Power Rangers: The Legend of the White Samurai
by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx
Summary: Follows The Little Samurai. In order to finish the battle against the evil Master Xandred, Ava must finally learn the secret that her family has kept from her for generations. Will she fully understand the true meaning behind her Samurai destiny before it is too late?
1. Chapter 1: Super Samurai

**A/N:** Hello everyone. Have you missed me? After much planning, procrastinating, and more planning, I think I am finally ready to bring you the second season of **The Little Samurai**. So, I am gonna shut up now and let you get on with the first chapter. Leave a review at the end and tell me what you think, please? Thank you.

**Chapter One: Super Samurai**

I don't own Power Rangers Super Samurai. But I do own any original characters that are of my own creation.

* * *

**Title:** The Legend of the White Samurai

**Summary:** Follows The Little Samurai. In order to finish the battle against the evil Master Xandred, Ava must finally learn the secret that her family has kept from her for generations. Will she fully understand the true meaning behind her Samurai destiny before it is too late?

* * *

Ava ducked as Jayden's sword missed her by a few inches. Her breathing was heavy from the intense training session, as it seemed Jayden was pulling out all the stops, and not taking it easy on her. She couldn't blame, after all, she _had_ asked him to train her at a level higher than what she was used too.

He had been hesitant at first. Unsure that she could keep up with the natural progression of a higher level, but after a few days of constant pouting he had caved, but only if she had promised that she wasn't doing this to simply prove herself to anyone.

It had been a few days since she had lost a training match to Kevin. He had annihilated her within the first three minutes, not that that was any surprise, Kevin was only a step down from Jayden for being dedicated to his Samurai destiny, where as she was right at the bottom of the Samurai food chain.

It was annoying at times but Jayden had made it clear that she was just as good as any of the Samurai.

"OK, I'm done," she sighed, collapsing onto her knees. Her sword hit the mat beside her with a muffled clang.

"Are you OK?" Jayden asked.

Ava paused. Her body ached from head to toe, and she felt more tired now than she did when she woke up. "No," she answered, her head bowed towards the floor.

"I told you that you weren't ready," Jayden said, lifting her head up so he could see her face.

"You don't have to rub it in." Ava replied.

Jayden smiled and run his thumb across her jaw. There had been an attack a month ago, the Nighlok had been strong, stronger than any they had faced before, and he had managed to demorph Ava on her first attempt at fighting him, and then attacked her in civillian form, resulting in a nasty cut to the left side of her face.

The scar was now invisible but Jayden could still feel the remains.

Ava shuddered as Goosebumps erupted over her skin. It had been almost seven to eight month since she had broken up with Luke, and since then she and Jayden's friendship had been tighter than ever. She knew that Jayden didn't like Luke and that Luke wasn't particularly fond of Jayden, they had only seemed to tolerate each other because they both wanted to please her.

But now that Luke was out of the picture, she and Jayden were closer than ever.

"You promised that you weren't doing this to prove yourself," said Jayden, breaking the silence first.

"I know," Ava sighed. "I just thought -"

Jayden's morpher chirped, indicating an incoming call.

"Don't the Nighlok realize that it is a Saturday?" Ava complained, her thoughts changing swiftly. She knew that Jayden would come back to the training conversation later, but that didn't mean she wasn't thankful for the intrusion.

"They don't care," said Jayden, getting up. He put his sword down and picked up his morpher. "We'll be right there."

Ava blinked and looked up.

"Be right where?" she asked.

**~*Super Samurai*~**

Mia shook her head as she knelt beside the pool of red water. She had been training with Kevin when Mike had called saying that she needed to get over to the park right away, she had been curious to find out what Mike and Emily had found, so curious that she had convinced Kevin that it was more important that training, which, ironically, it had turned to be.

"I can't believe this is happening," she said, looking up at Kevin, Emily and Mike. They were waiting on Jayden and Ava, who had decided to stay at home and train. Mia often wondered if the break-up with Luke Anderson had devoured Ava's confidence, and that was the reason she refused to leave the Shiba house anymore.

"Jayden," said Kevin. He got to his feet and left to meet his team-leader, who had finally arrived.

"How bad is it?" Jayden asked.

"You're gonna have to take a look," Kevin answered. "And judge for yourself."

"That translates into really bad," said Ava, running off to join Emily. She stopped beside the pool of red water and hissed. "Make that really, _really_ bad." She muttered.

Jayden sighed and knelt beside the pool of water. Using a two pronged twig, he poked the surface, the wood burned upon impact. This only confirmed his suspicions.

"Sanzu River water," he said, looking up at his team. "I was afraid this would happen."

"This is not good," said Kevin, stating the obvious.

"We've seen the netherworld break through to ours before," said Emily, trying to calm the situation down. Maybe things weren't as bad as they seemed. That was always a possibility, right?

"I know," Jayden nodded. "But this much water is really dangerous."

"And with the pools like these," added Kevin, "the Nighlok can rehydrate without even going back to the Sanzu River."

"Guys, over here!" Mia called. She had broken away from the group as another pool of water caught her attention. This time it was gushing out of a storm drain.

"Last time this happened," said Kevin, looking thoughtful. "Mentor said it was a sign that the Nighlok were growing stronger."

"Uh," Ava stammered, "it gets worse."

"How could it get worse?" Mike asked.

Ava pointed to something on the ground, leading away from the storm drain pool. "Footprints," she said, simply, shooting the Green ranger a look.

**~*Super Samurai*~**

Emily, Mia and Ava linked arms as they followed behind Mike. They had been following the footprints since they had been found a few minutes ago, the revelation of the fact that the Sanzu River was rising quickly and seeping into their world was one that threw each and every one of them into overdrive. They needed to find the pools of water and plug them up quickly.

"These footprints are definitely Nighlok," Mike confirmed. He had squatted down next to one in particular to study it.

"But no gap sensor went off," said Mia, trying to make sense of the whole predicament.

"I don't think it came through a gap recently," said Jayden. "This Nighlok has been here a while."

"There is only one Nighlok that's ever got away from us," said Ava, "and that was in Japan."

"Could it have followed you home?" Emily asked.

"It would have had to go through a gap to do that," Ava said. "And then to come back into our world it would have set the Gap sensor off."

"It could have come through while we were in battle with another Nighlok," said Kevin, "which is why it went unnoticed for so long."

Mike nodded. "So how come it's not returned to the Sanzu River? How hasn't it dried out?" he asked.

"If the Sanzu River is seeping into our world," said Kevin, the puzzle piecing together in his mind, "then the Nighlok wouldn't have to return to the Netherworld to rehydrate, it could just use the pools here in our world."

"Now that's a scary thought." Mia shuddered.

"Where's Antonio?" Ava asked, turning to Jayden. Why hadn't he shown up after getting the call? Did he even _get_ the call? If so, what was he doing that was so important?

Jayden squeezed her shoulder, halting her thoughts. "Mentor's got him working on the Black Box," he said. "If there are Sanzu River pools all over the city, we're going to need its power to deal with them."

The White ranger nodded and turned to Mike, who was, reassuringly enough, in charge of tracking down the monster that had made the footprints.

**~*Super Samurai*~**

Trekking through the forest was _not_ how Mia had envisioned spending her Saturday. She understood that they had to find the Nighlok before it did any more harm, but why did it have to detour away from the city, more importantly, why did it have to detour into the forest? She had nothing against forests, but she was a city girl at heart and preferred to be in her comfort zone.

The last time she had been in a forest was when she had gone to Japan with Ava, Jayden and Antonio. They had been sent to collect the Black Box from the Tengen Gate, a place of rich Japanese culture and Samurai history; she had enjoyed her visitor there, except for the minor fact that she had taken a beating from Arachnitor and spent most of the time in bed.

"Have you lost the trail?" Jayden asked from ahead of the group. He had been following Mike had a closer pace than she or the others. Ava, who was practically hanging off of Emily's arm, looked uncomfortable with the distance that the Red ranger had put between them, and looked eager to rush forward and be near him again.

Mike paused and then pushed off to the left. "This way," he said, leading them out onto a wooden bridge and back to civilization.

"Good job, Mike," said Jayden.

"Yeah," Kevin nodded. "These footprints disappeared a long time ago."

"The forest is my turf," said Mike. "I can still track him."

"RUN!" someone from the cul-de-sac shouted. Seconds later several people rushed into view, followed closely by a weird looking monster. He looked familiar, but very distorted.

Ava winced as she watched a young man, no older than mid-to-late 20s, sail over the handlebars of his BMX. _**Good thing he's wearing a helmet**_, she thought as she followed Jayden towards the monster; she and the others morphed as they raced forward.

"Hold it right there, Nighlok." Jayden ordered.

The Nighlok snarled at them.

"Does anyone recognize this creep?" Mia asked.

"I do," Ava nodded.

Emily nodded too. "He's the one you fought in Japan! The one who got away!" she said.

"That's fine," said Jayden. "This time we'll finish him off!"

The others nodded and prepared for battle, unknown to the fact that they were being filmed from nearby.

Arachnitor growled as he made quick work of Kevin and Mike, neither of them had fought him before and weren't sure of how powerful he really was. Jayden, Mia and Ava, the only there who _had_ dealt with him before, were a tiny bit more cautious on how to approach him, the only problem being; the last time they had fought him he had looked like a regular Nighlok.

"Emily!" Ava cried kneeling beside her friend after Arachnitor made easy prey of her. The White Ranger ducked as the Nighlok swiped at her with his new sharp talons, scraping the top of her helmet but not leaving a scratch; after he had fallen back, Ava sprang up and stabbed her Spin sword forward at the creature.

He howled and jumped backwards to avoid her blade, he then considered her for a split second before turning and fleeing the scene.

"Wow, that monster's really strong," said Emily, as Ava helped her back to her feet.

"Yeah," Mia nodded. "Plus he mutated and now he's out of control... I don't think he can handle the excess power his mutated-self has."

Ava looked nervous.

"What's worse is that he's not drying out," said Mike.

"He must be using a big pool of river water," said Kevin.

"We need to find him before he hurts anyone else," said Emily. "How are we going to track him down?"

Ava turned to Jayden.

"Well, we won't find him standing around here," said the Red ranger. The others nodded and run off after their team-leader.

Ava sighed; she had a bad feeling about this.

**~*Super Samurai*~**

Antonio sighed as the Black Box rose into the air and then landed with a light bump on the pedestal. He was standing in the dojo trying to unlock the key weapon that had the power to enhance his and the other Rangers strength. He didn't know exactly what it would do to them, but it had been super important if Mentor had sent all but three of them to Japan to retrieve it.

During his work Antonio could hear his friends talking in the other room. He had already been informed by Mentor that they were searching for Arachnitor, the same Nighlok that had attacked him and Mia in Japan, and later returned, fully mutated, to take on him, Mia, Jayden and Ava, he often wondered what had happened to that Nighlok.

Where had been hiding? How had he managed to survive long in the human world? Why hadn't they found him before now? There was no way he would have just lain low, right? He was a Nighlok, he had to cause terror in order to survive, plus he worked for Master Xandred so he was practically bound to the Master to cause havoc in the Human world in order to raise the river.

"There are many spots where the Sanzu River is seeping into our world," said Mentor from the other room. "It looks like Xandred may be planning to flood the Earth."

"We'll have to work as a team," said Kevin. "Even harder."

"The Nighlok have tried to ambush us before," came Jayden's voice. "But this time it's our turn. We'll ambush him."

"But how?" Emily asked.

Antonio paused in his work to listen. Even he was curious has to how Jayden had managed to figure this one out. Movement beyond the door caught his attention, causing him to look up, he smiled as Ava hurried inside, closing the door behind her. "What's wrong?" he asked, noticing the look on her face.

"I don't know," Ava said. "I just have a bad feeling about Arachnitor being in the Paranoma. I mean, how did he get here from Japan? Why was there no alert with the gap sensor?"

"What does Jayden think?" Antonio asked. "Or haven't you mentioned this to him?"

"He agrees with Kevin," said Ava, "who believes that the Nighlok slipped into our world while we were preoccupied with another battle."

"But you disagree?"

Ava shrugged. "I don't know what to think," she admitted. "It's really confusing... and I don't like being confused."

Ever since she had become aware of her feelings for Jayden, and when she had admitted to him that she loved him, and he had admitted that he loved her, and then there had been the whole messy break-up that wasn't a break up because they hadn't been dating; and then she had started dating Luke but still retained her feelings for Jayden - Ava had started to hate being confused.

"Well you have to make sense of your thoughts before you can assume anything solid," said Antonio.

"You're no help, you know that?" Ava sighed. She crossed her legs and flopped down onto the floor in front of her friend and the Black box, she could still here the others making plans from the other room, but her head hurt enough with everything rational and irrational thought speeding through it that she didn't want to add more confusion.

Antonio smiled, somewhat sadly, at his little sister, and sat beside her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and squeezed her reassuringly. "You'll find the reasons," he said. "There'll be a real easy explanation and you'll be left wondering why you didn't see it in the first place. Remember what your dad used to say. In times like this you really need to relax your mind."

"Daddy will be pleased to know that you _do_ listen to him," Ava smiled, resting her head on his shoulder. "But thanks, Antonio."

"For what?" Antonio asked. Now he was confused. What had he done to receive her thanks? He hadn't done anything of value, had he?

"For being there for me," Ava said. "And helping me through the confusion... even if you didn't do anything or ease the burden. I just needed someone to talk to or I felt like I was gonna explode."

Antonio kissed her forehead tendily. "What are big brothers for?" he asked. "Now I have to get back to work before your father comes in here and kills me."

Ava giggled. "Daddy wouldn't kill you," she said. "It's not his style. He'd just probably take away your fishing equipment for your slacking."

"He wouldn't, would he?"

"How else is he supposed to punish you?" Ava shrugged. She jumped to her feet and quickly left the room.

Antonio watched her go before he hurriedly returned to his task. If his precious fishing gear was in danger then he had to work quickly in order to save them.

**~*Super Samurai*~**

Jayden glanced back at Ava as she followed him and Kevin through the warehouse. She had been acting strangely since they had discovered that the Nighlok was the same one from Japan, he knew something was off with her but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. He had noticed she had disappeared from the living room while they had been formulating a plan to catch Arachnitor, he didn't know where she had run off too, and only that she had come back giggling silently about something.

Kevin didn't seem to have noticed the change in Ava's behavior, but then again he never did notice anything different, unless of course it was to do with a Nighlok or something Samurai related. Jayden knew that Kevin cared about Ava, but maybe not to the extent that he did. Maybe Emily, Mike or Mia had noticed something? If they had, why hadn't they said anything?

Unfortunately, no matter how bad Jayden wanted to stop and just talk to Ava, to try and figure out what was wrong with her, he knew that he couldn't do it until Arachnitor had been destroyed and the pools of River water had been sealed up.

"This must be the source," said Jayden, walking up to the ledge overlooking the trickling pool of river water below. Kevin stopped beside him and Ava joined them soon after. "When he shows up. He's in for a surprise."

Kevin nodded as Ava merely sat at the base of a support beam. She rested her head back against the cool stone and closed her eyes, her thoughts were still buzzing, jumping around inside her head and making it almost impossible to put them into an understandable context. Antonio had told her to relax her mind, but how could she relax her mind with everything that was going through it?

A weight landed beside her.

Ava opened one eye and smiled as Jayden sat beside her. She smiled and laid her head against his arm.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Ava countered.

"You've been different," said Jayden. "This morning you were fine, but now..." he trailed off, unsure of what to say. He knew something was wrong but he didn't want her to feel pressured into saying anything if she didn't want too.

Ava sighed. "It's nothing," she said. "I just..." she paused, hesitating, would he believe her? Would he even consider the possibility that there might be another explanation on how Arachnitor got from Japan to Paranoma without passing through a gap? Would he just dismiss her theory and say that she was worrying about nothing.

"Just what?" Jayden prompted.

"I just have a bad feeling," Ava admitted. "I know we already discussed how Arachnitor could have got from Japan to here without us noticing him, but I _really_ think there is more to it. I mean, if he _did_ come through a gap, regardless of whether we were busy with another Nighlok or not, Daddy would have got the alert back home and he would have told us about it. When have you ever known Daddy to forget a gap alert?"

Jayden frowned. While he wanted to believe that the Nighlok had escaped under the radar, he couldn't deny that Ava had a very good point. Mentor wouldn't have forgotten about another Nighlok in the city? And it was impossible to escape under the radar with the gap sensors all over the place. "So, what's your theory?" he asked.

"I don't have one," said Ava. "My thoughts are so jumbled they're giving me a headache!"

"Is that why you disappeared earlier?"

Ava nodded. "I went to talk to Antonio," she admitted. "I didn't know if I could come to you with this. I wanted to talk to someone outside the group, and while Antonio is a part of the team, I felt like he would understand where I am coming from a little more because he has been busy all day, and didn't know of what was said earlier. I'm sorry..." she added quietly.

"Why are you sorry?" Jayden frowned.

"For not coming to you,"

Jayden laughed lightly and hugged her. "I'm not mad at you," he promised. "You have every right to go talk to Antonio. If you thought he'd have a better perspective or understanding of what you're trying to say then go talk to him. I just hope you know that I'd never shun you or shoot you down for having a different opinion to me and the others."

"I didn't want to contradict anyone," Ava shrugged.

"Hey," Jayden said, lowering his voice so only Ava could hear him. He knew she was still feeling self-conscious about herself on the team, despite it having been a year since they had come together. She was still feeling her feet in training and sometimes even in battle, but he knew that she had it in her to be the best. "Don't ever be afraid to speak your thoughts. I'll listen." He promised.

Ava smiled and nodded.

Kevin, who had been oblivious to part of the conversation and more focused on getting the Nighlok, sighed and turned to his friends. "Where's that Nighlok?" he asked. "Is it possible that we could be wrong?"

Jayden glanced down at Ava, who did her best to conceal a grin. "The map definitely identified this site," he said, poking her in the side.

Ava squirmed and giggled. "Just because the map identified _this_ site doesn't mean it means this general area," she pointed out. "What if there's another pool? A bigger one?"

"It's worth checking out," Jayden nodded, getting to his feet. He held his hand out to Ava and pulled her up beside him, as Kevin walked away from the edge.

They then run off in search of another pool.

**~*Super Samurai*~**

"I hope Jayden, Ava and Kevin are having more fun than we are," said Mike. He, Emily and Mia had been staking out a pool of water for over an hour, but there had been no Nighlok visit within that length of time.

"If they had found something they would have called us," said Emily. "I'm guessing they're just as bored as we are."

Mia nodded in agreement. "Yeah, relax, Mike, something'll happen soon," she said.

No sooner had the words left her mouth, her morpher jingled in her pocket. She snapped it open and answered Kevin, who relayed that he, Jayden and Ava had found the pool and the Nighlok.

The Pink ranger snapped her morpher and turned to her companions. "You wanted excitement," she said, "We've got it."

Emily and Mike exchanged looks before following Mia out of the warehouse and towards the other's current position.

**~*Super Samurai*~**

Ava ducked down behind another stone pillar as Arachnitor stopped his splashing around in the water and looked in their direction. She had the eerie suspicion that he could sense them there, he may not have been able to see them but that didn't mean he didn't know.

"MOOGERS!"

"So much for the element of surprise," said Ava, as Octoroo appeared out of nowhere behind them. He waved his staff and several groups of moogers materialized around Arachnitor.

"Things just got a lot tougher," Jayden said, standing and walking out to face the small army of Nighlok.

Kevin and Ava followed him as the others arrived.

"Don't worry," Kevin promised. "We've got your back."

"Samuraizers! Go, Go Samurai!"

Each ranger traced their symbols in the air and slashed through them, but nothing happened. The symbols fizzled out but the team remained unmorphed.

"Huh?"

"What's wrong?"

"This hasn't happened before," said Kevin.

Jayden turned to Ava. "Was this somewhere inside those worries of yours?" he asked.

Ava shook her head, looking around. "No, but it's all kinda starting to make a bit of sense," she said, trying to see what could be blocking their powers.

"Care to explain?"

"Uh... only got the basics."

"Tell us anywhere."

Ava looked at the others to see them staring at her. Suddenly she felt self-conscious and wished they would look away. "Uh... OK... Um... well, we know that Xandred re-captured Arachnitor in Japan, right? I mean, Antonio said he saw Arachnitor being pulled through a gap after hearing Xandred's voice, yes?" the team nodded. "Well, what's to say that Xandred punished Arachnitor and mutated him into _that -_" she pointed at the Nighlok opposite, "and then sent him back to our world to cause terror?"

"That still doesn't answer your question on how he got here undetected," said Jayden.

"I thought we agreed that he slipped under the radar?" Kevin asked.

"Ava has another theory," said Jayden. "She just hasn't figured it out yet."

Kevin shrugged and shook his head. He didn't have time for theories. He needed a practical explanation has to why he and the others couldn't morph. Looking around the warehouse, the Blue rangers gaze flittered from pillar to pillar before settling on a red charm a few feet away, he glanced around again spotting another on the otherside of the warehouse. "There!" he said, pointing them out. "We crossed an evil barrier!"

"OK, I'll admit," said Ava, "I didn't consider an evil barrier!"

Jayden drew his spin sword. "Kevin and I'll handle the barriers," he said, as the others followed suit. "You guys, be careful. There's a lot of Sanzu water here and its dangerous stuff."

Mia, Mike, Emily and Ava nodded and rushed off to deal with the Moogers, while Jayden and Kevin battled their way over to the charms.

Mike grabbed ahold of a near-by Mooger and jabbed him in the stomach with the hilt of his Spin blade, while Emily, who fought near-by slashed in a complete circle, slicing through her group of several Moogers with ease.

Ava jumped from one support beam to another, pushing off forcefully and flipping over the heads of several Moogers. She landed behind them and dragged her sword across their backs, sparks flew and the Moogers fell to the floor.

Mia, however, teetered on the edge of a pool of river water as the Moogers forcefully pushed her closer towards the water. The tips of her hair skimmed the surfacing, burning on impact.

There was a rush of energy and, within a split second, the six rangers morphed into their respective suits.

Mia pushed the Moogers away from her as her powers returned.

"Time to take out that Nighlok!" Jayden shouted, jumping over the rest of the team and leading the way towards Arachnitor.

"My pleasure!" Mia agreed.

"We're on it!" Emily added.

Ava screamed as a tentacle wound itself around her, pinning her arms to her sides and lifting her into the air. "Put me down!" she shouted, struggling for release. Her sword, which was still in her hand, was useless to her now.

Arachnitor roared as Mike's spin blade sliced through the tentacle holding the White Ranger and she dropped back to Earth like a stone.

"Man, this guy's like a super mutant!" the Green ranger said, recieving a sharp hit to the chest from one of Archnitor's talons. It was a hit for the damage he had caused to the talon that had captured Ava, it was now withering uselessly on the floor, Ava had crawled away the moment she had been free.

Arachnitor growled, slashed his talons over one another and fired two whizzing beams at the rangers. They were knocked off their feet as the ground exploded.

"He's too strong!" said Kevin, struggling to get back up.

"Man, this isn't good," said Mike, collapsing onto his back.

"Normally an 'I told you so' would be the right thing to say right now," said Mia, "but I honestly don't have the energy."

Jayden staggered back to his feet. "Stay strong," he told his team. "We can't give up now." He reached down to pull Ava back to her feet. She whimpered at the sudden movement.

"Guys! I did it!"

Antonio had finally arrived.

"Antonio?" Jayden questioned as his friend ran towards them. He was fully morphed and brandishing the Black box for his friends to see.

"Gold is good, but right now, Black is better." Antonio said, stopping beside his leader. "The Black box is ready!" he added handing Jayden the box and a power disk.

"Let's see what it can do," said Jayden, taking both items. He opened the black box, placed the power disk inside, and activated it. "Super Samurai mode!"

The Black box beeped, a green light flashing from its face. There was a flash of white and a long white sleeveless cloak appeared over Jayden's regular uniform.

"You're done for, Nighlok," said Antonio. "I've combined all the power disks into the black box and now we can morph into Super Samurai unleashing super powers you can only imagine."

Arachnitor roared.

"Scared?" Antonio teased. "You should be! He's gonna squash you like the bug that you are."

Jayden removed the power disk from the black box and put it on his spin sword inside, he then hooked the black box to his sword, and addressed Arachnitor. "Nighlok, you're about to meet the Super Samurai."

The Moogers charged forward and Jayden met them head on, leaving the others to watch. Ava grinned and jumped onto Antonio's back. "You did it," she said, hugging him tightly while they watched Jayden. "I knew you could do it!"

"So my fishing equipment is safe, right?" Antonio asked.

"They were never in danger," Ava giggled. "I just thought you needed a little encouragement. Words wouldn't have worked. Words never work, and I knew how much your equipment meant to you, so..." she trailed off with a shrug.

"You're a horrible person," Antonio told her.

Ava smiled and hugged him again. "I love you too," she said.

There was an explosion from ahead. Jayden had just finished off the Moogers and was ready to face Arachnitor.

Octoroo, who was watching from his safety point, raised his hands to his head and shook it. "Ooh, ah, ooh, now he's stronger too," he said.

Ava, Antonio and the others watched with anticipation and fascination as Jayden took on Arachnitor.

The Black box was everything they had dreamed it would be. More power meant many things to many people, but to them it meant one step closer to destroying Master Xandred, if they could get rid of enough of his Nighlok monsters then the final battle would be at hand, they could finish what their destiny needed them to do and then go back to their normal lives.

"Lion disc!" Jayden said, powering up the Black box with his own power disk. Arachnitor snarled and charged at the Red ranger, only to be met with a super blazing strike from his spin sword. The Nighlok rippled with energy and exploded.

The rest of the team laughed at the destruction and then raced forward to meet their leader.

"Wow, that Super Samurai mode is awesome!" said Kevin.

"Stay alert," said Jayden, as the explosion behind him grew smaller and smaller. The rangers knew exactly what it meant and seconds later Arachnitor returned, bigger and stronger than ever. He was closely followed by two spit fangs and a group of giant moogers. "Time to check out Super Mega mode!" said Jayden, preparing his Lion zord. "Mega mode power!"

With Jayden gone the others followed.

"Dragon Foldingzord!"

"Bear Foldingzord!"

"Ape Foldingzord!"

"Turtle Foldingzord!"

"Penguin Foldingzord!"

"Mega mode power!"

"Zords combine!"

After the zords had combined the Samurai Megazord stood tall.

"Man, you're new uniform looks awesome!" Kevin complimented as he looked Jayden over.

"Sweet!" Mia nodded.

"Yeah, dude," Mike agreed. "You look super!"

Ava rolled her eyes at the pun behind the joke.

"Thanks guys," Jayden said in return.

Emily and Ava exchanged looks. They didn't need to see each other's faces to know what the other was thinking. Their friendship had exceeded the usual expectations and had eerily supernatural, over the last year they had become somewhat like twins, they were sometimes even closer as twins than Ava and Antonio, and Jayden never thought that would be possible.

"Claw battlezord east! Ready!" said Antonio has he joined the party.

The Spit fangs snarled and fired fireballs at the two Megazords. The seven rangers ducked to the side to avoid a collision.

"Hey, Jayden," Antonio called "This is the perfect time to turn the black box up a notch."

"Good idea," Jayden nodded, linking the Black box up with the Megazord controls. He opened it and inserted a new power disk. "Super Samurai Combination!" he commanded, reaching out towards the Clawzord. There was another bright flash and the Clawzord dismembered, before combining with the Samurai Megazord.

The cockpit enlarged as another podium popped up between Ava and Mike. There was a flash of gold and Antonio landed between the two friends.

"Claw amour Megazord! We are united!"

"Fantastico!" Antonio said, looking around at the others. "The Black box combines all of our powers! Just like Mentor said it would. Golden, isn't it?"

Mike chuckled and patted his friend's shoulder. "You're the man, Antonio!" he said.

"Here they come!" said Emily, pointing out the now even more enraged Nighlok. The rangers had been so surprised with the new combinations that they had almost forgotten why they had needed them in the first place.

Using the power of the Black box, the rangers made easy work of the Moogers and Spit fangs.

"Double Katana!" Jayden commanded.

"STRIKE!" the rest of the team stated.

"How do we eliminate Arachnitor?" Mia asked. "He's a lot stronger now he's gone Mega."

Antonio smiled behind his helmet. "I think we could use a hand," he said, holding up his morpher. "Or a tentacle... or even a bunch of tentacles... Octozord!" he called for the white and blue octopus which enlarged the moment it was free of its confinements.

"Ava, Mike, Kevin, combine your zords with the Octozord!" Jayden said.

"Right!" the three in question nodded, replacing their respective power disks with their additional ones.

"Tiger Zord!" Ava said.

"Beetle Zord!"

"Swordfish Zord!"

The three zords in question shot out of the Megazord and combined with Antonio's additional zord. Together they formed one giant cannon.

"That's one big cannon," said Emily.

"Yeah," Kevin agreed. "But what does it do?"

"Just trust me," Antonio said, reassuringly. "You won't believe your eyes."

"But it takes a lot of symbol power," said Jayden. "We can only fire it once."

"One shot?" Mike repeated.

"One shot is all we need," said Mia.

"Then we better make it count," nodded Ava.

Arachnitor snarled and fired two spirals at the rangers. The ground around them exploded, but they remained standing.

"Wait for my signal," said Jayden, "we can only do this as a team."

Silence fell inside the Megazord as Arachnitor attempted to eliminate the Megazord again, but he failed again. The target locked onto the Nighlok and the rangers fired, unleashing the Zords at the Nighlok; they collided and Arachnitor exploded for the final time.

"Awesome!" Antonio shouted excitedly.

"Yeah!"

"We got him!"

"Thanks to the Black box." Antonio nodded.

Ava shook her head and hugged her friend. "Thanks to you, silly," she said. "Without you we wouldn't _have_ the Black box. You deserve your moment of glory too!"

"She's right, Antonio," Jayden agreed. "We couldn't have done it without you."

"Aw, you're too kind," Antonio teased, wrapping his arm around Ava and hugging her.

The team laughed at his antics, as Ava hugged him back.

"Samurai Rangers," said Jayden. "Victory is ours."

**~*Super Samurai*~**

After the battle, the rangers were still at the construction site; Emily had been dragged into covering all the pools of Sanzu water so that no other Nighlok could use them to rehydrate. Mia and Ava were with her while the guys argued over the Black Box.

Mike, who had already stated that he was to use the power upgrade next was arguing with Kevin who insisted that he should be the one to use it next as he was second in command to Jayden.

The pool of Sanzu water bubbled thickly at the bottom of another hole. Emily tiredly raised her arm and drew a symbol over the hole. "Symbol power Rock!" she said, slashing through the yellow sign. Rocks materialized in mid-air, they crashed down onto the water, splashing it up into the air before disappearing completely as the rocks settled.

The Yellow ranger sighed and turned to her sisters.

"Good job, Emily," said Mia, helping the blonde up.

"Yeah, good job, Em," Ava nodded.

"Thanks," Emily said. "I don't think I have an ounce of Symbol power left in me."

Ava smiled. "Well, at least you can sleep when you get home," she said.

"I could sleep for a week," said Emily.

"I don't know if Mentor would approve of that," said Mia, with a slight laugh. "But you can try."

Emily shrugged. "Maybe he'll go easy on me when he learns I just covered thirty-four holes of Sanzu River water," she said.

Ava smiled. "Pull the puppy-dog pout," she said. "Daddy can't resist it!"

"I'll try," Emily said, feeling more and more tired as they returned to the boys.

"I don't care if you're second in command," said Mike, as the girls returned. "I called dibs. You can't over rule dibs!"

The three girls rolled their eyes and turned to Antonio and Jayden who were watching with smirks of amusement. Ava jumped up onto Antonio's back again, and snatched the Black box from Jayden.

"With all due respect," she said, interrupted Mike and Kevin, "I for one think Antonio should have it next."

"How do you work that one out?" Mike asked, before Kevin could protest.

"Because he did spent the majority of the year trying to unlock it," Ava pointed out. "It's only fair that he gets to feel the power behind all his hard work."

Emily and Mia nodded in agreement.

Ava passed the black box to Mia after she had finished with it. "Then I think Emily and Mia should have it," she said, smiling at the horrified looks on Mike and Kevin's faces. "I mean, four out of seven of us have additional Zords and Jayden has ten times more symbol power than any of us put together, Mia and Emily haven't had anything new since we started."

"Mia had the beetle disk," said Mike.

"Which she gave to you," said Ava. "She didn't even get to use the Beetle disk, remember?"

Mike muttered under his breath as his protest was shot down.

"It is only fair," Ava shrugged.

Kevin sighed and nodded. "She's right," he agreed.

"Of course I'm right," Ava giggled, jumping down from Antonio's back and snatching the Black box from Jayden, who had taken it from Mia. "But until then..." she grinned, looking around at her friends before running off in the opposite direction, "MIIIIIINE!"

* * *

**Copyrighted ©**

**A/N:** Be patient and I'll update the second chapter soon. Leave a review and tell me what you think of the first chapter.

**Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx**

**Chapter updated Friday, March 22, 2013 at 03:21am**


	2. Chapter 2: Shell Game

**Dedications:** Big thank you to the following: **Grapejuice101, Sharkluver, CamaroDude1989, The Silver Magician of Chaos, ASL, Dandelion657, Sweetredranger, Starpower21, Dunk234, Scarlet3008, Yosdellillan Skywalker, Heavy Metal Rocka, Jessfairy88, Sunheart13** and** Dream lighting** for adding this story and/or me to their alerts. Very much appreciated.

**Chapter Two: Shell Game**

I don't own Power Rangers Super Samurai. But I do own any original characters that are of my own creation.

* * *

**Title:** The Legend of the White Samurai

**Summary:** Follows The Little Samurai. In order to finish the battle against the evil Master Xandred, Ava must finally learn the secret that her family has kept from her for generations. Will she fully understand the true meaning behind her Samurai destiny before it is too late?

* * *

Antonio paused as he passed Ava's bedroom door. He was on his way fishing when he had heard a slight whimper coming from his friend's bedroom; for a moment he racked his mind for any indication that Ava even was still in the house. He had thought she had gone with Jayden and Mia.

There was another whimper and the Gold ranger decided to find out what was wrong. He grasped the handle of Ava's door and slid it open.

Ava was lying in her bed. Covers pulled up to her chin and her eyes were closed. But that's not all he noticed, her face was contorted in pain and she looked to be fighting with something - or someone.

"Av?" he said quietly, creeping closer. It wasn't like Ava to sleep in. She was usually one of the firsts, after Jayden and Kevin, to be up and bouncing around but lately she had been sleeping in. He wondered if it had something to do with the headaches she had been complaining about. Ever since Archnitor's return something had been off with Ava. But no one knew what it was.

Again Ava groaned and rolled away. She teetered dangerously on the edge of her bed, twisted under the blankets and fell towards the floor.

Antonio was faster. With the speed of a cheetah he swooped in and grabbed his friend before she could hit the floor. "Whoa, are you OK?" he asked, looking down at the Little Samurai as she snapped awake, her breathing was heavy and she looked around terrified. "Ava, you're OK." He reassured her. "You're safe. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Ava said, shaking her. She struggled to free herself from his hold but he held on tighter. Something was wrong and he was now scared for her safety. "Antonio, let me go!" she said, struggling even more against his grip. "Let me go or I'll scream!"

Antonio sighed and released her. "Ava, something is wrong with you," he said, hoping to get her to open up.

"There is nothing wrong!" Ava said, defiantly. "It was just a bad dream. A nightmare, that is all!"

"That is not all," said Antonio. "Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

"Because there is nothing to tell!"

Antonio sighed and shook his head. He knew that something was wrong. She may have had a nightmare, but the way she had woken and started to search her room was an indication to the idea that she thought someone was there and they were going to hurt her. But sadly, as much as he wanted her to open up and tell him what was wrong, Antonio knew he couldn't force her.

"OK," he nodded. "There isn't anything wrong. But if there ever _is_," he added, quickly, "you can talk to me, OK?"

Ava nodded faintly.

"_OK_?" Antonio pressed.

"Yes! Yes, OK," Ava said, aggravated. "Yes! I get it. If there is ever something wrong I can talk to you. I heard you the first time!" she snapped. She then grabbed her training clothes and stormed into the bathroom.

Antonio sighed as he heard the door slam from the otherside of the house. Something was definitely bothering his friend, he just needed a way to get her to talk to him. "Maybe she'll talk to Jayden," he murmured, as he left Ava's bedroom and carried on down the hall to the front yard where he knew the others would be.

**~*Shell Game*~**

"Watch out!" Emily shouted as the power symbol she had painted came to life. A giant boulder dropped down from the easel and rolled towards Mike and Kevin who had been trying to outdo one another with their sword techniques. Mike had cut a Watermelon in half, while Kevin had sliced through a coconut.

Both Green and Blue rangers looked up and tried to stop the boulder with their blades. Sparks flew but the boulder kept on coming. Sooner, rather than later, both boys bailed by throwing themselves aside and allowing the bench to stop the boulder from going any further.

"Sorry," Emily apologized as she rushed over.

"No problem, Em," Mike said, shaking his head. "Man, how cool would these be if they cut through stone like Dekker's sword?"

"Just be glad we haven't met anything that would require that type of power," said Kevin, rolling his shoulder muscles. During the bailout he had knocked his shoulder on the boulder and it was starting to hurt like hell.

"If you guys are looking for a nut to crack," said Antonio as he arrived. He was lugging his fishing equipment behind him. "Try talking to Ava. She just blew up at me for no reason."

Emily frowned. "Are we talking about the same Ava?" she asked.

"You know another Ava?" Antonio asked.

"No, but the Ava I know doesn't blow up at anyone for no reason," she said. "She blew up at Mike a few months ago because he lost his cool and attacked Mentor, and she blew up at Jayden because he refused to admit that his feelings for her existed _after_ he had admitted he loved her; but both those times she's had a reason."

Mike and Kevin nodded.

"Yeah," Mike agreed. "What did you do and/or say to her?"

"Nothing," said Antonio. "I heard her crying in her sleep when I passed her bedroom, so I went in to check on her, I honestly thought she had gone with Jayden and Mia."

"She was supposed to," Kevin nodded. "But she changed her mind when she woke up this morning with a headache. Mentor told her to go back to bed and rest."

Antonio nodded in understanding. "Anyway, she nearly fell out of bed so I caught her before she hurt herself," he continued, "but when she woke up she started to look around, I think she thought there may have been someone there, someone who wanted to hurt her."

The others looked concerned.

"I tried to calm her down," Antonio added, "and get her to talk to me, but she just told me to leave her alone and stormed into the bathroom. I didn't do or say anything to make her so upset."

Emily sighed. She had noticed this behavioral change in Ava too, but she had always been wise enough to keep her distance and her mouth shut. "I think that by pushing her to try and talk to you is what caused her to snap," she told Antonio, "don't worry too much about it, Antonio, Ava knows that if she needs someone to talk to then we're all here for her."

Again, Mike and Kevin nodded.

Antonio nodded. "Yeah. You're right," he said, nodding in defeat. "Let me know if anything changes. I'm going fishing."

"Good luck," Emily wished him as he headed for the gate.

Kevin and Mike waved as the Gold ranger disappeared.

**~*Shell Game*~**

The Nighlok was attacking in front of the stadium. The one good thing about the attacks being in the city were that the rangers had an exact location to head too, the bad side to the attacks being in the city were that innocent people usually got caught in the crossfire.

Mia and Jayden, who had been shopping nearby, drew their spin swords as they arrived on the scene first. The first thing the duo noticed was that the Nighlok had a strong resemblance to an Armadillo, and Mia was the first to announce that Armadillo's usually used their shields for defensives purposes, especially against a rival.

"Nighlok, that's enough!" Jayden shouted.

"How dare you talk to me like that," the Nighlok responded. "How dare you talk to me at all!"

"No more talking's fine by me!" said Jayden.

"Maybe I'll have some fun with these lousy lame-os," said the Nighlok, "before I take them down."

"You're the one going down, Nighlok!" said Mia.

"Ha! You're nothing but a joke." The Nighlok cackled. "Now, let's see. What would be the funnest way to mash them to bits?"

"Enough of this!" shouted Mia.

"Right!" Jayden nodded.

The two jumped to action, taking the Nighlok by surprise.

"What? You're really going to attack me?" he asked. He scoffed as the rangers aimed their spin swords at him. He rolled into a ball, feeling the blades of their swords strike the outside of his shell, but he knew it was pointless on their part. Nothing could break his shell. He was indestructible.

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Ha! Your swords feel like pillows!" the Nighlok said, bouncing back to his normal form and stabbing his talons into both Jayden and Mia. He blasted them backwards through the air and then curled back up into a ball again as the others arrived.

Ava stopped beside Jayden and helped him stand. "What happened?" she asked, as Kevin helped Mia back to her feet.

"You OK?" Kevin asked.

"Better now that you're here," Mia nodded.

"Sorry we're late," said Kevin.

"What's his story?" Mike asked, nodding at the Nighlok.

"He's a ball?" Emily frowned

"Don't underestimate him," said Jayden. "Nothing penetrates his shell!"

"It's just too hard," Mia agreed.

"I'll take a shot at it," said Kevin summoning his hydro bow. He fired several blasts at the Nighlok but to no avail.

"You new guys are even lamer," the Nighlok snickered.

Kevin gasped and looked at his weapon. Not once had it failed to even dent an opponent.

Mike stepped forward. "Forest Spear," he said, attaching his bear disk to his weapon. He spun the weapon in a circle above his head, and sliced it through the air. Sparks flew as it came in contact with the shell but again nothing happened.

"Don't you get it?" the Nighlok asked. "I'm invincible."

Emily and Ava exchanged looks.

"Earth Slicer!" Emily yelled.

"Ice Naginata!"

Emily threw her weapon at the Nighlok. It hit the shell and rebounded, soaring over the heads of the rangers who ducked to avoid a collision.

Ava growled and stabbed her Naginata at the shell. It didn't even break. "But that's never failed before!" she whined.

"This is getting boring," the Nighlok complained. "Leave now or you'll need someone to carry you away."

"Not one of our attacks works," Emily said, turning to the others.

Movement caught Ava's eye and she pointed to two innocents who had run right out into the middle of their battle with the Nighlok. "Look!" she said, causing the others to turn to where she was pointing. The Nighlok rose out of his ball form and roared at the two guys, they squealed and run off in the direction they had come.

"What was that all about?" Mike asked.

"No idea," said Emily, shaking her head.

"Emily, Mike, Ava," Jayden said, turning to his friends. "Go help those guys get to safety. We'll hold off this Nighlok. Go, quick!"

"You got it," Mike nodded. "Nothing will happen to them on my watch."

"Right behind you," Emily agreed, leading Ava after Mike.

"But hurry back," Jayden called after them. "We have to stick together against this creep."

"How about I just mash you together?" the Nighlok shouted. He had turned into his ball form again and was rolling at high speeds towards them. He hit them head on, knocking them over like bowling pins.

Ava stopped and turned around. "No! Jayden!" she shouted, running back the Red Ranger. Emily and Mike also stopped chasing the two guys that had disappeared and returned. "Back off!" Ava shouted at the Nighlok, firing an icy blast from her Naginata. The blast hit the Nighlok's exposed skin, before melting away as a crack appeared.

"You got lucky, White Ranger," the Nighlok said. "I'm drying out. But I'll be back to finish you later!"

"Wait! Come back!" Mike shouted, but the Nighlok had already disappeared through a gap in the side of a building. He sighed. "How can we stop him if nothing we do even slows him down?"

Emily touched his shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry," she said, "we'll get him."

**~*Shell Game*~**

Back at the Shiba house Mentor was turning his Samuraizer over and over in his hands. He was waiting for the team to return, but also started to get slightly worried over the fact that Antonio had failed to get back to him. He had left over a dozen voicemails to the Gold ranger, what was he doing that was so important that he couldn't answer his morpher?

"Nothing gets through his armor!" Mike said his voice loud and annoyed.

Mentor looked up from his Samuraizer and stuffed it quickly inside his pocket. He didn't want to worry the others about Antonio's disappearance unless he really had too. He may have been wrong and Antonio was fine.

"How are we going to fight him?" Mike asked Jayden.

"We'll find a way," Jayden answered. "He must have some weakness."

Cheetah mewed as she bounded into the room and saw that her humans had returned. She weaved through the legs of the others and made her way towards Ava, jumping up onto the White ranger's lap as she sat down.

Ava smiled and scratched the feline behind the years.

"May I remind you that not one of our attacks damaged him at all," said Mike, as he and the others took their stools around the table.

Jayden sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he sat down.

Ava groaned as pain erupted inside her head. She had been moderately fine whilst in battle, was there something in the Shiba house that was causing these headaches? If there was why was it only now starting to bother her? She had lived at the Shiba house her whole life and not once did she ever have this problem.

"Like Jayden said," Mentor spoke up as he entered the room. "There must be some crack in his defenses."

"That's it!" Kevin gasped loudly. His friends looked around at him in surprise; they hadn't realized he had broken away from them until now. "I may have an idea."

"Then let's hear it," said Jayden.

"All we need is the right ranger," said Kevin, "with the right attack in the right order. We'll beat him as a team."

"Yeah," the others agreed.

"Speaking of 'team'," said Emily, looking around. "Where's Antonio?"

Mentor sighed. "I've tried calling him," he said, "but he's not answering."

"Can you try again?" Ava asked, looking up. Her head was still hurting and she was sure her pain showed on her face because of the looks her friends were giving her. Mia sat beside her and squeezed her shoulder. Ava smiled at her sister and shook her head, regretting it almost instantly. "I'm OK."

"No, you're not," said Mia, "something's bothering you."

"You can tell us, Ava," Emily nodded. "We only want to help."

Ava sighed and looked down at Cheetah. She knew they wanted to help, but there was nothing that she needed help with. It was just a headache. "I don't need help," said Ava, "because there's nothing wrong."

Emily and Mia sighed and exchanged looks. What could they do to show Ava that she wasn't alone in whatever was bothering her?

_"You know me. Probably out fishing. Holla back."_

Mentor sighed as he got Antonio's voice, a_gain._ "Antonio, please call us back," he said, snapping the phone shut after and turning to the rest of the team. "I wonder what trouble he's got himself into this time."

"Seriously, that guy's a trouble magnet," said Kevin, closing the book he had been reading.

"Guys, he may be a jokester," said Emily. "But Antonio takes this stuff seriously. He wouldn't just ignore our calls. He could be in real trouble."

Cheetah hissed as the Gap sensor sounded loudly. While she had got used to her humans being the Samurai Power Rangers, she still wasn't used to the Gap Sensor. Its sudden loud noises was still something that made her nervous, especially since it went off without warning.

"We'll have to search for Antonio later," said Jayden, "right now we've got a Nighlok to stop," he smiled and nudged Kevin, "and a plan to put into action."

The others nodded and hurried out of the house.

Cheetah sulked away, disappearing into Ava's bedroom and under the bed. She usually came here when her humans were out and about fighting, she would only come out if it was meal time or when Emily and Ava came home and wanted to play.

**~*Shell Game*~**

The Nighlok laughed and jumped out of his shell as the Rangers blocked his path. "You fools again," he said.

"We're shutting you down, hard," said Mike, taking a stand.

"Ha! You just proved how foolish you are," said the Nighlok, jumping back into his ball mode again and rolling towards the rangers. "You really think you can win?"

"Time for Kevin's plan," said Jayden. "Phase one."

"Right," Mia nodded, drawing back.

"First we use his own speed against him," said Mike, as he and Emily stepped forward. They drew their separate symbol powers in the air and they combined them together to create a wall. The Nighlok crashed right into it with enough force to slow him down, but it did more than stop him, it knocked him straight out of his ball.

"Oh," the Nighlok groaned. "That was stone cold rangers."

"Ha! Us, one,' you, nothing," said Mike.

"Now phase two," said Jayden, holding up his spin sword.

Mia nodded, holding up her sky fan. "You got it."

"I'm still fine," the Nighlok said. He was then blasted by large flames of fire, as they were fueled by the wind of Mia's fan. The Nighlok curled up into a ball to protect himself from the heat.

"That actually tickled," the Nighlok laughed.

"Now phase three," said Jayden, turning to Ava and Kevin. The two nodded and stepped forward, it was the first time that they actually had to work together and depend on one another in battle, granted they did it almost every day, but this was the first time that they had to do it without the others being their back-ups, if they screwed this up now then the Nighlok would win.

Ava trembled at the prospect of screwing up because she was nervous of working in close proximity to Kevin. She quickly put the thought out of her mind and raised her Samuraizer; she drew her symbol in the air, symbol power always had and would always be her strongest form of attack, Kevin couldn't doubt her for that.

"Hey, Nighlok, how about a cool down?" Ava shouted. ""Symbol power: Snow Storm!" she pushed the symbol towards the Nighlok as it turned into a blizzard of cold snow. The snow particles attached themselves to every inch of the Nighlok's shell, freezing instantly and turning it rock solid.

The Nighlok laughed. "And here was me thinking that you wanted to destroy me," he said, "all you've done is make my shell harder, White Ranger."

"It's time for you to come out of your shell," said Kevin, drawing a massive symbol in mid-air. He activated it and a giant tidal wave washed over the Nighlok. The snow vanished, melting in the water that covered the Nighlok, rapidly cooling him off. "That should do it."

"All you did was clean my shell," the Nighlok laughed "Thanks, Rangers."

"Are you sure that's all we did?" Jayden asked.

The Nighlok stopped laughing as cracks started to appear all over his armor. "Oh, what did you do?" he shrieked. "My shell it's cracking!"

"Your armour may be able to hand any single attack..." said Jayden.

"But with the right attacks in the right order," added Kevin, "even your armour isn't strong enough."

"First we softened your shell," said Jayden, "then we raised its temperature with our enhanced heat and wind attack, lastly the ice and water quickly cooled your hot shell making it brittle. So now it's time to break your invincible armor for good."

"Impossible!" the Nighlok shrieked.

"Let's end this shell game," said Jayden, firing up his Spin sword.

"Yep, time to get crackin'," Kevin nodded.

Ava held the Black Box out to Kevin. "I know I said Antonio should use it next," she said, "but I think Jayden and the others will agree that you've earned to use it this time."

Kevin looked to the others who nodded. Even Mike, who had argued that he was to be second in line to use the powers that the box gave. Kevin smiled and took the box from Ava. "Thanks," he said, "It'll be my pleasure. Super Samurai Mode!"

Needless to say, the Nighlok didn't stand a chance against super Kevin. Using the combined symbol powers of his team-mates, Emily more than the others, Kevin was able to get a surprise jump on the Nighlok.

"Super Spin Sword!" Kevin yelled after kicking the Nighlok into the air. "Slash!"

He slashed upwards. His water powers turning into a jet which cut through the Nighlok's shell with little to no effort. It crumbled and shattered as the Nighlok fell to the ground. "Do it now!" Kevin shouted to his friends.

"Got it!" the others nodded.

"Quintuple Slash!"

The Nighlok shrieked as the five attacks hit him dead on. Because he didn't have a shell to protect him this time, the attacks sliced through him like a knife through butter causing him to explode.

"Nice job, Kevin," said Mia, rushing towards the Blue Ranger.

"Way to go," Jayden nodded.

"You're the man!" Emily added.

"Super Samurai mode is awesome!" Kevin grinned, still feeling the power coursing through him.

"Yeah!" Mike laughed.

"Thanks, guys." Kevin smiled, nodding once at Ava, who had joined them last. For some reason he felt the need to thank her for giving him the Black box more than he needed to thank the others for helping him in defeating the Nighlok after he had destroyed the shell.

**~*Shell Game*~**

After the battle with the Nighlok the rangers had returned home to find that Antonio hadn't returned and Mentor still couldn't get in touch with him through their Samuraizers. It was only then that a search party had been initiated and the team had been split into pairs and deployed to find their missing Gold ranger.

Mike and Emily had been assigned to the dock.

Kevin and Mia had been assigned to the inner city.

While Jayden and Ava had been assigned to the park.

Antonio had said he was going fishing, which meant that there was a chance he'd be at the docks. If he was there then Mike or Emily would call to say they had found him, if he wasn't then the rangers had agreed to meet up at a different location to discuss other search areas.

"Hey, there he is," said Emily, pointing the Gold ranger out to Mike as they walked along the dock. "I'm glad he's OK."

"Yeah," Mike nodded. "Now I won't feel so bad about giving him grief for making us worry about him."

Emily smiled and nodded as she made her way towards Antonio. The Gold ranger has headphones on and seemed oblivious to everything around him. Suddenly she gasped as her gaze was drawn to something on the floor in front of her and Mike. "Isn't that Antonio's morpher?" she asked, pointing the object out to the Green ranger.

"Looks like we got to bail him out again," said Mike, as Emily picked the cellphone up from the floor.

"I bet you he doesn't even know it's gone," said Emily.

Mike grinned and led Emily over to Antonio. "Hey!" he said, tapping the boy in question on the shoulder.

Antonio jumped, startled out of his zone and turned around, he sighed in relief as he saw his friends behind him. "Oh, hey guys!" he grinned.

"I think you dropped something," said Emily, holding out the morpher.

"Whoa," said Antonio, with a surprised smile. "Thanks. Do you have any idea what Mentor would do to me if I lost this thing?"

"Yeah, about that," Mike nodded, "you haven't checked your messages yet."

Antonio frowned and opened the phone. His eyes widened as he saw the number of voicemails and missed calls that were waiting for him. "34 missed calls. What did I miss?" he asked, seeing the smiles and looks exchanged between Emily and Mike. "Is everything OK? Are _you_ guys OK? What about Ava? Did anything happen to her?"

"Should we make him sweat about it?" Mike asked, looking at Emily.

Emily looks considerate. She knew that Antonio cared about Ava a lot, and while making him think that something had happened to her was cruel, it also seemed like the perfect punishment for not being careful with his Samuraizer.

"Definitely," she agreed, walking away with Mike. Antonio chased after them, desperate to make sure that nothing remotely bad had happened while he had been having fun.

**~*Shell Game*~**

Meanwhile, over in the park, Jayden was trying to get Ava to talk to him about what had been bothering her in the past couple of days, he had figured out that it was more than just the reappearance of Arachnitor; she had been in immense pain with random headaches that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"The others are convinced that something is bothering you," he said.

"They're wrong," said Ava.

"Are you sure?"

Ava nodded. "Yep. If there was something wrong you'd know." She said.

"I saw you earlier, Av," said Jayden. "While you're famous for looking cute as your scrunch your face up," he teased, "I know earlier had nothing to do with cuteness. You were in pain; you just didn't want to admit it. So, what's the deal? Headaches again?"

"So what if it is?" Ava asked. "It's just a headache."

"It stops being a headache when the pain persists, Av," Jayden sighed. He stopped walking and grabbed her wrist, turning her to face him. "Tell me what's wrong."

"You're as bad as Antonio!" Ava sighed. "There is nothing wrong!"

Jayden shook his head. "You're lying," he accused her. He didn't want to force her into saying something, but he knew that something was wrong and that she needed help. If he had to force her then he would do so. She needed to know that he and the others wanted to help, she should have known by now that they were there for her.

Tears welled in Ava's eyes as she looked away from Jayden. She couldn't believe he was forcing her to admit something that she didn't want to talk about much less worry about. She didn't want him or the others to worry about her; she wanted to be able to admit that she could handle some problems alone. Her entire life had been spent depending upon others to protect and save her; she wanted to be able to do that herself.

For once she wanted to prove that she wasn't has helpless as everyone made her out to be.

Ava tried to pull away from Jayden, but he held her firmly. She struggled but Jayden pulled her close and held her in his arms until she gave in and fell still, but he didn't release her. He felt her shake and then heard her sob into his clothes.

Now he was really worried.

"Shh, it's OK," he said, as he held her close. "You don't have to tell me what's wrong... but whatever _is_ wrong you don't have to fight it alone."

* * *

**Copyrighted ©**

**A/N:** I am working double time to finish these final folders so that I can come back to writing. Hope to see you full time soon.

**Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx**

**Chapter updated ****Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 4:45am**


	3. Chapter 3: Trading Places

**Dedications:** Big thank you to the following: **Dreamstar14, Weathergirl17248, Life-Luvr123, Mynameiskat** and **Sonicguy001** for adding this story and/or me to their alerts. Very much appreciated.

**Chapter Three: Trading Places**

I don't own Power Rangers Super Samurai. But I do own any original characters that are of my own creation.

* * *

**Title:** The Legend of the White Samurai

**Summary:** Follows The Little Samurai. In order to finish the battle against the evil Master Xandred, Ava must finally learn the secret that her family has kept from her for generations. Will she fully understand the true meaning behind her Samurai destiny before it is too late?

* * *

_"Oof!"_

_The force field around the cave crackled with static as Ava groaned and pushed herself into a sitting position. She shook her head and glared at the invisible barrier that was keeping her from the light outside._

_**You must not leave... you must release me...**_

_Ava frowned and looked around. A pedestal had appeared in the middle of cave._

_**Release me... Release me...**_

_The pedestal glowed yellow as the voice returned, repeating itself. One thing that Ava noticed was that every time the voice asked to be released, the light surrounding the pedestal pulsated. Was the pedestal speaking to her?_

_**Release me... Release me...**_

_"Who are you?" she asked. "What do you want?"_

_**You are the one who will release me...**_

_"I can't release you!"_

_**I have been guarded for centuries...**_

_Ava stared at the pedestal as it continued to speak to her. Why did it have to speak in riddles?_

_"Who are you?" she asked._

_**A guardian protects me... but you must tame me...**_

**~*Trading Places*~**

Ava woke with a start; her breathing was coming in hard and fast gasps, and it felt as if her entire body had been set ablaze. Her skin was hot and flushed in colour, which was saying something considering her element was snow and ice. Even small beads of sweat had started to develop around her neck and collarbone.

Feeling a stabbing pain in her head, Ava swung her legs out of bed and stood. She wobbled slightly, but caught her balance before she fell and woke the rest of the house. The last thing she wanted to do was to explain to them why she was awake at four in the morning, especially since she wasn't ready to tell them the whole truth about her headaches. They knew she was still suffering, they just didn't know they were also accompanied by nightmares that meant she was awake half the night.

Ava grabbed a t-shirt from the floor and tugged it over her head. It was then that she noticed that she was alone. She vaguely remembered begging Jayden to stay the night with her because she was terrified of sleeping alone; she had thought that if she had her best friend for protection then the nightmares wouldn't plague her. But she had been wrong; whether Jayden was there or not the nightmare had returned.

Dragging her feet across her bedroom floor, Ava wandered out and down the hallway towards the kitchen, maybe a glass of water would help clear her head. There was no point taking any pain medication, especially the ones that had been prescribed for her by her doctor, she knew that they weren't going to do her any good and only promised her father that she would take them so he would stop worrying. She kept the medication in her bedroom, pretending to take one every morning when in fact she was making them disappear with her symbol power.

Jayden and Antonio were sitting silently at the table. Antonio was stirring his tea mindlessly while Jayden was staring out of the kitchen window. The sky was a deep indigo as small stars sparkled, and the moon cast a silvery eerie glow over everything. One good thing about living in the middle of nowhere was the fact that everything looked ten times more beautiful away from the bright lights of the city.

"Av?" Antonio's voice cut through the silence.

Jayden looked up and spotted his best friend standing in the doorway to the kitchen. She was wearing one of his shirts, and hugging herself. She nodded her head to answer Antonio's question and then turned to leave. "Ava," he called out, careful not to wake the other rangers. "What are you doing awake?"

"I woke up and you weren't there," Ava answered. "I was coming to get a glass of water."

"Did you have a nightmare?" Antonio asked. He remembered how he would prowl around his home after having a nightmare; his mother or father would often find him in the living room playing a game on his handheld before taking him back to bed.

Ava nodded. She didn't want to tell them too much about her nightmare, but she knew that, in her sleepy state, she wouldn't have been able to think of a convincing lie to cover up her early morning wanderings. "I can't remember what happened to make me wake up," she said. "I just remember rolling over and nearly falling out of bed because Jayden wasn't there to stop me."

It was partly true. She nearly had fallen over, but not because Jayden hadn't been there to catch her.

"Here," Jayden said, handing her the glass of water she had come to collect. He then wrapped his arm around her and turned to Antonio. "It's late. We should all try and get some more sleep in before breakfast."

Antonio nodded and squeezed Ava comfortingly before returning to the bedroom he shared with Jayden. "Goodnight," he said, as his best friends continued on to the room next door. "Sleep tight, Av," he smiled at the white Ranger. "Sweet dreams."

Ava smiled and nodded. Sweet dreams were the last thing that was waiting for her in the land of nod.

**~*Trading Places*~**

When Jayden woke the next morning he noticed he was alone. Ava wasn't in bed beside him. He ran his hand over his face and sighed as he checked the clock. It was nearly ten in the morning. He wondered why no one had come to wake him or why Ava hadn't woken him when she got up. Dragging his feet across the bedroom floor, Jayden slid open the door and made his way out and into the kitchen.

Kevin, Mia and Mike were sitting at the kitchen table. Kevin was drinking his coffee; Mia was reading a book while Mike was slowly finishing the last of his breakfast. The three rangers looked up when they heard someone walking into the room.

"Good morning," Mia said, brightly. "Sleep well?"

"Define well," said Jayden, taking a seat and pouring himself some tea. "It must have been one of the most restless sleeps I've ever experienced, and I don't mean me. Ava tossed and turned pretty much all night. She finally calmed down about 2am, after which I was woken by Antonio. We were sat out here from 3-4 until Ava came looking for me, and then when I took her back to bed we sat and talked for about an hour before she fell as sleep and then I dozed off around about 5:30am."

Mike whistled under his breath. "Speaking of Ava," he said. "Where is she?"

"Emily and Antonio managed to convince her to leave the house," said Mia. "Staying cooped up all the time's not going to help her overcome these headaches, all it's going to do is run her down more and she'll suffer with depression before she's nineteen."

"Any idea when they'll be back?" Mike asked.

Mia shook her head. "Why don't you go join them?" she asked. "They did offer us all to go, but I want to try and finish my new book before the next Nighlok attack, Kevin's got training after breakfast and you and Jayden were both sleeping when they offered, none of us wanted to wake you, especially you, Jayden, Antonio already told us that you were awake at 4am."

The red Ranger nodded as he finished his tea.

Mike finished his breakfast and stood. "You know, I think I will join them," he nodded. "Nothing beats a good picnic. You sure you don't want to come, Mia?"

"Maybe next time," Mia smiled.

"Jayden?" Mike asked turning to his leader.

Jayden shook his head. "I have training to do too," he said.

Mike shrugged and left the kitchen, leaving Jayden, Kevin and Mia in the silence that had fallen. Neither of them had much to say and, after a while, they all dispersed to do their own thing while Mike headed off to find the rest of his friends.

**~*Trading Places*~**

"It's a beautiful day for a picnic," Emily smiled as she and Ava sat opposite one another at the small table Antonio had set up. The Gold ranger had decided open his stall at the local flee market expecting a big income from the shoppers. His father had always told him that hungry shoppers meant more money.

"I couldn't agree more, Em," Antonio agreed, firing up the grill. He pulled a fish from his cart and set it on a plate, while he added two bread rolls to another plate. "Are you OK, Av?" he asked the white Ranger, who was looking around with a look of boredom on her face.

Ava gave her friends a strained smile and shook her head. "I'm fine," she said, although her tone of voice betrayed her true feelings.

"Don't worry," Antonio said, brightening up quickly. "Once you taste my habanero hollandaise herring burger, you'll brighten right up."

"I doubt that, Antonio," said Ava. "I'm vegetarian, remember? I don't eat fish."

"Then how does an Ice cream sound instead?"

Ava's lip curved upwards into a small smile. "Sounds yummy," she nodded.

"How about you, Em?" Antonio asked.

"I'll take a burger," Emily smiled. "How about we get the ice creams as a dessert?"

"I could go get them," Ava offered.

Antonio shook his head. "Nope, you're my guest," he said, patting her shoulder. "You and Emily stay here, I'll be right back."

He smiled at Emily and made a quick break for an ice cream stand a few stalls away. The yellow and white Rangers watched him, before Ava turned to Emily. "Today is about more than getting me out of the house, isn't it?" she asked.

"What makes you think that?" Emily asked.

"Because this was supposed to be a date picnic for you and Mike," Ava said. "I'm not stupid, Em, I know you, Mike and Antonio worked this between you. Mike _pretended_ to sleep in so that I would be forced to take his place on this little outing."

Emily's cheeks flushed pink.

Ava shook her head. "Why am I really here, Emmy?" she asked.

"The others and I," said Emily. There was no point lying. Ava already knew that there was something going on, "we know that there is more than just headaches going on, Av, Antonio told us about last night that you had come to get a glass of water, he also told us that you had a nightmare and that was why Jayden spent the night with you."

"Big mouth," Ava muttered.

Emily sighed. "Ava, what's happening to you?" she asked. "Please, you can tell me... you're my best friend, I only want to help."

Ava shook her head. "There's nothing wrong, Em," she said. "How many times do I have to say it? I've told Antonio, and Jayden, and my Dad, there is nothing wrong! I swear it! I suffer with nightmares, I always have, and it'll pass after a few days."

"And if it doesn't?"

"It will," Ava persisted. "It always does."

Emily sighed and looked up as Antonio returned. He set three Ice Cream sundaes down on the table and looked to the yellow Ranger. Emily shook her head, and indication to show that she hadn't been able to get anything out of Ava about what was bothering her.

It was Antonio's turn to sigh. Emily was his last chance of finding anything from Ava. Jayden had failed, Mentor Ji had failed and so had he; Emily was the last person that Ava was close too... well... there was still Mike.

"Hey, what's up with him?" Ava asked, noticing a guy over Emily's shoulder. He had just stopped and fallen to his knees, hands up in front of him like he was holding something.

Antonio and Emily looked around.

"Uh... maybe he's doing yoga?" Antonio suggested.

"What about him?" Ava asked, pointing out another guy. He was wearing a bicycle helmet, including elbow and knee pads. He was on his hands and knees staring dead ahead.

Nervously Emily got out of her seat and rushed to the person's side. "Guys, I think something's wrong," she called to her friends. "It's like he's in a trance or something."

"A trance?" Ava repeated, jumping up and racing over. Antonio made to follow him, before he felt a dull pain in his back. Darkness consumed his senses and he flopped over onto the floor like a fish.

As Emily and Ava checked on more people, the monster, Switchbeast, appeared through a gap and continued to trade more people into inanimate objects. He was determined to get as many people as he could before the Rangers turned up, his main focus was initially them, but that didn't mean he couldn't have some fun in the meantime.

Spotting the Nighlok first, Ava pulled Emily out of sight and snapped open her Samuraizer. "Ready?" she asked.

"Ready," Emily nodded.

"Go, Go Samurai!"

**~*Trading Places*~**

"Where are those pesky pets?" Switchbeast grumbled. He was still waiting for the Rangers. "They should have been here by now."

No sooner had the words left his mouth was he struck down by a sharp flying boomerang. He ducked to avoid a collision and then turned to see the yellow and white Rangers appear out of nowhere.

"What did you do to all of them?" Ava demanded, pointing her sword at Switchbeast. "Wake 'em up!"

"Nah, I don't think so," Switchbeast laughed.

"I said wake them up!" Ava yelled, running at Switchbeast. The Nighlok hit her in the stomach with his arm, sending her flying backwards through the air, Ava groaned as Emily rushed in to cover her, but the she was quickly disarmed and sent flying into Ava who had got up to try and catch her.

"This is too easy," the Nighlok laughed and two tentacles came shooting out of his arms. Both Emily and Ava knew there was no way they could've stop this attack... even if they had tried.

Ducking their heads, Ava and Emily raised their arms, waiting for the inevitable hit from the tentacles. But they never came. Instead two blurs of Pink and Blue shot in front of the two fallen Rangers, as Mia and Kevin arrived to block the attack.

"SURPRISE!" Jayden shouted as he slashed down at the Nighlok with his spin sword. Switchbeast raised his staff and deflected the red Ranger's attack, but was too preoccupied to worry about another ranger, and was taken off guard as Mike came out of nowhere and slashed him across the stomach.

"I think it's time for a change," said Switchbeast, pushing Mike and Jayden away from him. The two rangers stumbled, before shooting his tentacles at them. The two spikes hit the green and red rangers.

"Jayden!" Ava shouted.

"Mike!" Emily cried.

"Switchblast!" the Nighlok yelled, firing a burst of fiery energy at the four remaining rangers. Then, before the other's eyes, Jayden and Mike demorphed. The red Ranger stood at attention with one arm up at shoulder height and his wrist and fingers curled in towards his palm, while the green Ranger slumped to his feet and flopped backwards onto the floor.

"Switchbeast! You've done it again," the Nighlok congratulated himself. "Time to finish the job. Just one blow and the red Ranger is history." He was standing over a china garden gnome.

"Not so fast!"

There was a clang of metal on metal. Switchbeast looked up in surprise as the White ranger appeared in front of him, her spin sword blocking his staff from the garden gnome. "History's never been one of my best subjects!" Ava said, shoving the Nighlok away from the table.

"Well, then let me school you," Switchbeast said, blocking all of Ava's attack. He shoved her away as Kevin and Mia jumped to her defense, blocking and attacking with their spin swords. "In 1492, I took out the Rangers Pink and Blue. Switchblast!"

A bright tiger-shaped blast erupted from his chest. It hit Mia and Kevin, knocking them into a couple of cardboard boxes.

"Time for another switcheroo," Switchbeast growled, shooting his tentacles at the downed rangers. They glowed golden as Switchbeast switched them with other objects.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Emily shouted rushing into to cover Ava.

Switchbeast ducked to avoid Emily's sword. He then fell to one knee as his skin started to crack and peel. "Dried out already?" he groaned. "I need Sanzu River water to recharge. This isn't over yet, Rangers."

"You won't get away with this next time," Emily shouted as the Nighlok disappeared through a gap. She turned quickly to Ava, who was standing next to Jayden trying to wake him up. Mike lay at her feet, his eyes staring into space.

Ava shook Jayden, she was waiting for him to start laughing and tell her that he was kidding around; a ploy to make her laugh or at least smile. But he didn't move. Not even Mike, the Samurai jokester, moved when she nudged him with her foot.

Emily rushed over to the fallen boxes and started to dig Mia and Kevin out from underneath them. "Av, where's Antonio?" she asked.

"Found him," Ava said, struggling to pull the gold Ranger over to Jayden and Mike. She managed it, with a lot of puffing and panting, before rushing off to help Emily pull Mia and Kevin out from under the rubbish.

"Any ideas on what just happened?" Emily asked.

Ava shook her head. "All the people are frozen," she said. "And the Nighlok thinks that destroying the gnome would destroy Jayden. He must have switched Jayden's spirit into the gnome."

"That's messed up," Emily muttered, looking around at her friends. They were each in weird shapes, which begged the question: What had they been switched into? "How are we going to figure out what everyone is?" she asked.

Ava stared at her friends. She knelt down behind Mike and tried to lift him up, only for him to flop over onto his side again. "Hmm," she said, chewing her lower lip and looking around. She spotted a rag doll on the table next to the garden gnome and rushed over to pick it up. "When I was younger, I had this rag doll that wouldn't sit up on its own, every time I set her down she'd flop straight over. Mike reminds me a lot of her."

Emily looked down at Kevin and Mia. The blue Ranger had adopted a very familiar pose. "My sister, Serena, used to have this beautiful music box," she said, "there was a small china figurine inside it that used to spin in a circle whenever the box was open and the music was playing. It was a ballerina. It had the same stance Kevin has now."

"Music box," Ava murmured, spotting the item on a near-by stall. She rushed to pick it up and set it down next to the gnome and rag doll. "What about Mia?"

"Why is she rolling back and forth for?" Emily frowned, noticing the strange movements the pink ranger was making. She never turned in a full circle, only went half way before changing course. The yellow Ranger snapped her fingers and rushed over to a fan and pulled it across to where the other's objects. "What about Antonio?" she asked.

"He's just lying here like a stupid fish!" Ava said, nudging the gold Ranger. He didn't even move.

"Fish," Emily gasped, running over the grill. She grabbed the plate with the fish on it and brought it back to Ava. "He's a fisherman who got turned into a fish, is I the only one who sees the irony in that?"

Ava smiled and giggled lightly.

Emily stared at her in wonderment. It was the first genuine smile and laugh that she had heard coming from the white Ranger in the last week. "We better call Mentor," she said. "There's no way we'll get this lot home by ourselves."

"Agreed," Ava nodded, opening her Samuraizer and quickly calling her father.

**~*Trading Places*~**

Once back at the Shiba house, Emily set the garden gnome down on a small table and tapped its head. "You think they're awake in there?" she asked, waving her hand in front of the gnome's face.

"So this Nighlok switches people's spirits into objects," said Ji, as he set Mia up near Jayden, but with enough space as to allow her free movement back and forth.

"Yeah," Emily sighed, "and then the victims' bodies take the shape of the objects."

Cheetah mewed as she eyed the plate with the fish hungrily, but before she could jump up and get the fish, Ava picked her up and hugged her. "Don't eat Antonio," the white Ranger warned.

"What are we going to do?" Emily asked.

"Maybe there is something on this Nighlok in the archives," said Ji, disappearing from the room.

Ava watched her father go and then turned to back Emily.

"Do you remember anything of relevance from today?" Emily asked.

"Only that the Nighlok tried to destroy the gnome _after_ Jayden was switched into it," said Ava, thinking back. "What if destroying the object results in destroying the person too?"

"All those people," Emily gasped. "We have to save them."

"But how do we figure out what they turned into?" Ava asked.

"We have to try," said Emily, looking around at her friends. It was hard to wrap her head around the idea that she and Ava were the only two rangers left standing. "Or there's no hope for any of them."

Ava nodded and turned to the bedrooms. "Dad, did you find anything?" she called out to her father.

"Only that Switchbeast is a cat-like Nighlok that is able to switch people's spirits into inanimate objects," said Mentor Ji as he returned. He was carrying a leather bound book and reading it as he walked. "It says here that if you defeat the Nighlok then everyone will return to their normal states."

"Then we'll have to train hard," said Emily, "until the Nighlok returns."

"Sounds like a plan." Ava agreed, although she was dreading fighting alone without Jayden or the others to fall back onto. She knew that with Jayden and Antonio in battle, she had someone to cover her when things went wrong, she couldn't very well have depended on Emily to cover her mistakes and watch herself.

Ava sighed as she followed Emily from the room; she paused and looked back at the others. If anything were to happen to Emily because of her, she'd never forgive herself.

A small flicker of pain flared to life and spread rapidly across her forehead. Ava grabbed her head and bit back a cry, she didn't want to alert Emily or her father to her pain, and she needed to be strong now, the survival of her team and Emily's safety rested on her shoulders.

_**What am I going to do?**_ She thought anxiously.

**~*Trading Places*~**

For at least two hours the house was strangely quiet. Ji was busy trying to think of a plan to help Emily and Ava defeat the Nighlok without losing their spirits, while everyone else, save for the white and yellow Rangers, had already been switched with inanimate objects. So far none of his plans were foolproof and he feared sending his last two remaining rangers out into battle. What if they were attacked themselves? Not only was one of them his daughter, but both Emily and Ava were anyone last chance of surviving any future Nighlok attacks.

Then the sounds of grunting and groaning echoed from the dojo. Despite being the one of the two youngest on the team of Samurai, Emily was still working at a higher training level to Ava and therefore had a higher advantage than her when it came to battling, which meant, during training, she had the upper hand.

Ava cried out as she hit the training matt for a fifth time.

"Are you OK?" Emily asked.

"Fine," Ava nodded, rolling up onto her knees. She dropped her training sword and straightened up. "I'm going to check on Antonio," she said, "and make sure that Cheetah hasn't taken a bite out of him."

Emily sighed and followed her out of the dojo and into the living room. The only reason she had been able to completely floor Ava five times was because she could tell by Ava's face that she hadn't really been into the exercise. Something was bothering her, Emily was sure of it.

"Av," Emily said, as she sat on the step leading into common room. The others were stood in their positions, their respective objects stationed beside each of them. Antonio's fish, however, had been placed a little further out of reach as not for Cheetah to climb up and get him.

"Mhmm," Ava said, without looking at her sister.

"What's going on with you?" Emily asked. She was tired of Ava's avoidance of the question. She was determined to find out what was wrong with her best friend, and if Ava was afraid to say anything in front of the others then now would be a great time to say anything; with the others gone there was no one around to judge her for a weakness that she had no control over.

Ava shook her head.

"No," Emily interrupted. "Don't say 'nothing' when there is obviously something wrong! Answer my question, Ava, truthfully!"

"When did you get so bossy and demanding?" Ava asked, turning to her friend.

Emily gave her friend a pointed look. "I'll stop being bossy and demanding," she said, "When you stop avoiding the question. We all know that something is wrong, Av, we're concerned about you, it's not like you to be depressed all of the time. You're usually all bouncy and over-excited. So what's wrong?"

Ava sighed as she realized that Emily wasn't going to give up until she knew the truth. "Fine," the white ranger caved, returning to her friend's side and sitting on the step beside her. "You have to promise not to tell anyone, Em, if they knew..." she trailed off, shaking her head, unable to fathom what the others would do to her if they knew her problem.

"I promise," Emily nodded. Neither of them was aware that their friends could hear everything that they were saying. So not only was Emily about to find out the truth, but they were too. "What is it?"

Ava took a deep breath. "I don't know where to begin," she said, honestly, "it all started about three weeks ago. It was after that Sphinx Nighlok, you know the one that had the ability to suck the energy out of people?" Emily nodded as she remembered. "Well, that night was the start of what would become a reoccurring nightmare."

"Reoccurring?" Emily repeated.

"Yeah, for the last three weeks I have been having the same nightmare over and over and over again," Ava explained. "It's always the same scene."

"Tell me."

Ava bit her lower lip and looked down at her hands. Cheetah had wandered into the room and weaved her way between her humans; Ava reached out and picked the feline up, hugging her close and scratching her under the chin. "I'm trapped in a cave. There is a force field around the exit, preventing my escape, and there is a pedestal with a faint glowing yellow light, then there is a voice... inside my head... it's telling me that it is time to be released, it says that it has been cooped up for many centuries and it is time for it to take back its freedom."

"And this is what's causing the headaches?" Emily asked, looking slightly confused.

"I think so," Ava nodded. "I don't hear the voice so much during the day, it's mostly when I close my eyes, but it feels like someone is trying to penetrate my mind and there is something blocking it, I just don't know what, and that's what's causing my headaches. Em, it's starting to freak me out to the point where i'm afraid to go to sleep; but I know if I don't sleep then I'm going to be even more of a useless ranger than I already am!"

Emily looked startled. "Who said you were a useless ranger?" she asked.

"There's no denying the truth."

"You're not useless, Ava," Emily said, shaking her head

"I'm at the bottom of the Samurai food chain." Ava protested. "I'm useless... by the time she was my age, my mom was able to take on a Nighlok all by herself. She would have been able to save her team, and protect the rest of her friends without so much as batting an eyelid."

Emily shook her head. "You're worrying too much," she said. "Yeah, your mother may have been able to do it by herself, but you won't have too."

"But I can't risk this happening to you," Ava said, looking up at the others. Now that she had started admitting the truth she found that she couldn't stop, she already felt a little better about telling someone what had been going on with her lately, may has well have got it all off her chest when she had the chance.

"Nothing's going to happen to me," Emily promised. "We'll beat this Nighlok together."

Ava paused and then looked up at the blonde beside her. She smiled, a genuine smile, and nodded. "Promise?" she asked.

"Av, you're my best friend," Emily said, straightening up. "I have no reason to lie to you. C'mon, this'll probably be the 'once in a blue moon' where it is up to us to save the others."

Ava couldn't help but giggle as she jumped up and followed Emily from the room.

**~*Trading Places*~**

Ji wrinkled his nose as he passed through the common room and headed towards the kitchen. He was searching for Emily and Ava, having figured out a plan that they could use in their hopes of destroying the Nighlok. He stopped beside Antonio's fish and picked it up.

_"It's not my fault," said Antonio's spirit, despite Mentor not being able to hear him. "I'm a fish out of water."_

"I'll put him in the fridge before he spoils." Mentor decided, leaving the room with the fish. He hurried into the kitchen, vaguely aware of the yells from the back garden, through the window he could see Emily and Ava training hard. They had moved on from sword fighting and were not in the middle of hand-to-hand combat.

Before he could reach the fridge, Mentor looked up as the gap sensor sounded loudly. "The gap sensor," he said, putting the fish down on the counter and rushing from the room.

_"Hey! Hey..." Antonio's spirit yelled. "Hey, you can't leave me out here!"_

There was a crash as the back door opened. Emily and Ava rushed in, switching off the gap sensors as they passed through the door into the hallway. They hurried towards the front doors when Ji called them from the end of the hallway.

"Ava," said Mentor, approaching his daughter, "before you go. I think you're going to need this."

Ava's eyes widened as she was presented with the Black Box. "Are you sure I can handle it?" she asked, looking up at her father.

"You can do it, Av," Ji assured her. "I know you can. Remember what your mother and I always told you. You can do anything you want, as long as you put your mind to it."

"Alright," Ava nodded, taking the device from her father. "Well, I have an idea on how to deal with the Nighlok," she said. "It's pretty risky and a little bit crazy."

Emily shared a smile with Mentor. "It sounds like Mike's creativity is rubbing off on you," she teased.

"He'd be proud," Ava smiled. She then looked down at the Black box, and pulled out her Samuraizer. "We can fill them in on the details when we come back."

Emily nodded and followed Ava out to the Nighlok's location.

**~*Trading Places*~**

Cheetah purred as she followed the scent of fresh fish in from the back garden. She jumped up onto the counter beside the fridge and peered over at the plate on the island; the smell was tantalizing. She had already been fed, but that didn't discredit the delicious smell of fish when it was presented.

_"Whoa, there, Kitty." Antonio said from inside the fish. The cat was so much bigger than he was and while in fish form he couldn't do anything to push Cheetah away; he knew, as a human, Cheetah would never initially hurt him, she had no reason too, but as a fish he was easy prey. "Don't even think about it..."_

Cheetah pounced across from the fridge and onto the island. She sniffed around the plate and moved her jaws closer to the fish.

_"Somebody... help!" Antonio shouted. But no one, other than the others who had been transformed and couldn't help him, could hear._

**~*Trading Places*~**

The Nighlok was causing terror around the plaza.

"Ah, they're singing my favourite song," he laughed as the people ran screaming.

"So you like music, do you?" Ava said as she and Emily arrived behind Switchbeast. The Nighlok growled and turned to the two rangers left. "Then let's dance."

Emily and Ava nodded at one another, snapped open their Samuraizers and drew their respective symbols in the air in front of them. "Go, Go Samurai!" they said, slashing through their symbols and morphing instantly.

"Samurai Rangers, Ready!"

Drawing their spin swords, both white and yellow Rangers slashed down at Switchbeast. He blocked their attacks with his staff. He hooked his staff under the two girls and with little effort flipped them overhead.

The Nighlok laughed and shot out one of his tentacles, hitting Ava in the stomach. The white Ranger groaned as she felt pain rush through her, leaving her paralyzed.

"OK, Little Samurai, what should we switch you with?" Switchbeast asked, contemplating the objects around him. He settled on a post box and shot out another tentacle in its direction. "Maybe something nice and easy to smash."

"Not so fast!" Emily shouted, running towards the tentacle. She grabbed the tentacle and hurried over to the Nighlok, stabbing him in the nose and trading Ava's spirit for his.

Ava laughed as she looked down at her own body standing opposite her. "Yeah! It worked!" she said, turning to Emily.

"What? What did you guys do to me?" the Nighlok asked, looking over Ava's body.

"My plan worked," Ava cheered. "High five."

Emily giggled and high-fived her best friend.

"OK, Mr. Nighlok - or would you prefer _Miss_. Nighlok seeing as you are in my body?" Ava giggled. "Anyway, now that you've had a taste of your own medicine. How about you tell us the quick and easy way to switch everybody back?"

"You sneaky snakes," the Nighlok growled. "Urgh, I feel all gross and hero-y."

"Tell us the secret or you're gonna get it," said Emily, holding up her spin sword.

"Oh yeah?" Switchbeast asked. "As loathsome as this body is," he said, holding his sword up to his, or rather Ava's, neck. "I bet you don't want anything to happen to it. "Back off, or she's gets it."

"If you didn't like my body, why didn't you just say so?" Ava asked. She pointed her tentacle at herself and it shot out, striking her chest for a second time. There was a rippling effect as she shot the second tentacle into a soccer ball.

Ava's body curled up into a ball and Emily looked down at the one in her hands.

"Penalty kick!" she said, drop-kicking the ball into a wall. It bounced back and she caught it in her hands. "I think something's wrong with this ball. It feels a little mushy."

She pressed on the ball as hard as she could, squeeze as the Nighlok cried out in pain from inside.

Ava giggled as she watched her friend, but the others were depending on being saved before dark. "OK, Em, I think we've made our point," she said, stabbing the ball with one tentacle and attaching the other to her helmet. The Nighlok was transferred back into her body.

"Urgh. That was just cruel," Switchbeast groaned, straightening up. "I think you broke a rib."

"Serves you right, you monster." Emily shouted.

"Now tell us how to switch everybody back," said Ava. "Or we'll make your life really miserable."

"Why, you - I ought to -"

"Quit stalling, Nighlok!" Ava snapped, holding up one of her tentacles threateningly.

"We're waiting," Emily nodded, holding the other tentacle.

Switchbeast growled and picked up Ava's spin sword. "Urgh, fine, I'll do it!" he said. "All right. Hold completely still."

The Nighlok charged at Ava and slashed across his face. The white ranger felt a tremendous amount of pain, but it was gone before she even had a chance to cry out. Her vision whirled and when it cleared she found herself staring at Switchbeast. Looking down, Ava grinned as she saw her own body looking back at her.

"Ava, that you?" Emily asked, rushing over.

"It's me, Em," Ava nodded. "It worked. Our plan worked."

"_Your_ plan," Emily corrected. "It was your plan. You saved everyone."

Ava smiled and picked up her spin sword as she held up the Black box. "How about we finish this and go home?" she asked.

"Sounds like a plan," Emily nodded. "Ready?"

Ava held up the Black Box and activated it. "Super Samurai Mode!" she shouted. Power coursed through her, a white vest covered her regular suit, and she felt ten times stronger than ever before. Taking her penguin disk from the Black Box, Ava put it on the end of her spin sword and then attached the Black Box to it. "Super Spin Sword! Let's finish this!"

"With pleasure!" Switchbeast growled, swiping at Emily with his staff. The yellow ranger ducked to avoid the hit, but Switchbeast now only had eyes for Ava. The two rushed at one another, the Nighlok raised his staff to attack but missed as Ava slashed her sword across his face. There was a mighty explosion and Switchbeast recoiled with a cry of pain.

Opening the Black Box, Ava loaded it with her unique power disk. "Penguin disk!" she said, firing up her sword.

"You'll never defeat me," Switchbeast growled.

"Never say never!" Ava said. "SUPER SNOWSTORM!"

There was a blast of white energy as Ava slashed through Switchbeast with her spin sword. He rippled with electrified energy before exploding.

"Hey, Super white Ranger!" Emily laughed running over to her best friend. "That really was super!"

Ava laughed and high-fived her best friend. Thanks to them everyone should have been back in their own bodies.

**~*Trading Places*~**

_"No! No! Nooooooooooooo!"_

There was a flash of light and Antonio's vision clouded. Cheetah disappeared and he snapped awake to find Jayden, Mia, Mike and Kevin standing over him, although, despite his friends being there all he could see and imagine was Cheetah's jaws about to crush him.

He screamed, startling his friends.

"Antonio," Mia said, trying to calm him down.

"Buddy, you're OK," Jayden laughed.

Antonio ignored them and, crawling along on his hands and knees, he raced into the kitchen. The others exchanged looks before chasing after him. "No! No! No!" the gold Ranger muttered as he came to a stop, he had to be sure that he wasn't just about to be eaten.

His blood ran cold as he saw Cheetah sitting on the island tear chunks of flesh from the fish. He screamed, causing the feline to hiss at him, before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed onto the floor.

"Antonio!" Kevin sighed as he reached the kitchen first. He jumped over the gold ranger, careful not to stand on him, as Jayden, Mike and Mia entered the room.

"What happened?" Mia asked.

Kevin shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "He took one look at Cheetah and fainted."

Jayden spotted the cat. "Isn't that the fish that Antonio had been switched into?" he asked.

Kevin, Mike and Mia exchanged looks, each realizing what had happened. Cheetah had nearly eaten Antonio.

"No wonder he screamed," Mike said.

"No wonder he fainted," Mia added. "Nearly being eaten cannot be fun."

**~*Trading Places*~**

"Ready for the big switch!" Switchbeast yelled as his energy imploded and he returned as a Mega monster.

Ava held up the super samurai disk and loaded it into the Black Box. "We're ready," she said, nodding at Emily. "Super Samurai combination!"

There was a roar was all eight zords raced towards their destination.

"Thanks to the Black Box the two of us can control all of the Zords," Emily grinned. The Zords combined to create the Samurai Megazord before it combined with the Clawzord to create the Claw Armour Megazord.

"Mega Mode Power!"

"Penguin Foldingzord!"

"Ape Foldingzord!"

Jumping into the Megazords cockpit, Ava and Emily exchanged looks. They were in control now, which meant it was up to them to stop the Nighlok.

"The other's will owe us big time for this," said Ava.

"No doubt," Emily agreed. "I say we celebrate this defeat with an ice cream."

Ava grinned. "And cookies," she added.

"And a movie!"

"Yeah!" Ava cheered, turning back to Switchbeast.

"Your sneaky tricks won't save you this time." The Nighlok shouted at them, wielding his staff in a circle.

Ava smirked and shook her head. "We don't need tricks to destroy your sorry butt," she said. "You ready, Emily?"

"Yeah. Let's do it!" Emily nodded. She pushed forward on her controls, Ava following her lead, and the Megazord charged forward. The two rangers commanded the Megazord to slash at the Nighlok, causing sparks to fly as the double swords came in contact with Switchbeast's staff.

Ava groaned. "We've got to get that staff away from him!" she said.

"Keep fighting, Av," said Emily. "We can't give up now."

"OK," Ava nodded. "Never give up!"

"Never give up." Emily repeated with a smile. "Let's show him some of our Mega moves!"

"Switchblast!" Switchbeast shouted, blasting them with a tiger spirit from his chest. The Megazord merely slashed through them with their swords, before turning their backs on the Nighlok and blasting him with lasers from the Ape, Penguin, Lion and Turtle zords on its back.

Switchbeast lost his footing and fell with a crash. His staff flew into the air and landed further away from him, he knew, by the time he could reach it, the Rangers would have finished him off.

"Time for the big finish." Ava instructed Emily. She removed her Mega Blade from her podium and flipped it open. For an extra burst of power, Ava added the Black Box.

"Double Katana Strike!" she and Emily shouted, swinging their Mega Blades while the Megazord responded to their movements. The Nighlok cried out as he exploded. Gone for good.

"Samurai rangers..." Ava started.

"Victory is ours." Emily finished.

Ava giggled and sunk to her knees, resting her head against her podium.

Emily sighed and did the same.

"Wow. We really did it," Ava sighed, looking over at Emily and breathing heavily. "Just the two of us."

"Yeah," Emily nodded, with a light laugh. "Let's never do that again."

Ava nodded in agreement. While it had been fun to prove that she wasn't as weak as she believed herself to be, it was a great responsibility saving the world all by oneself, and she was exhausted.

"What do you say we go in search of our next adventure?" Emily asked.

"Cookies and Ice cream?" Ava asked.

"And a movie..." Emily reminded her.

Ava giggled and nodded. "Can't forget the movie!" she agreed.

**~*Trading Places*~**

Rushing into the Shiba house, Ava and Emily run into the common room to find it empty. They stopped and looked at one another before hearing a commotion out the back. Exchanging looks they headed for the kitchen, stepping through the back door just in time to see Antonio running away from Cheetah.

The two girls giggled, before Emily put two fingers in her mouth and whistled.

Cheetah did a complete 360 turn around and run across the courtyard to her humans. Ava stooped down and scooped her up, hugging her tightly before turning to her twin brother. "What did she ever do to you?" she asked.

"Nearly ate me!" Antonio defended, returning to the grill. He was making burgers. He had a mixture of Meat Burgers and Veggie Burgers.

Ava giggled. "Well what do you expect a cat to do when there is an unattended fish left in the open?" she asked. "Maybe next time you won't be so quick to fall under a Nighlok's spell."

"Like we had a choice," Antonio grumbled as Ava and Emily joined the others at the table.

Ji, opened his arms and hugged Ava as she sat beside him, still cuddling Cheetah. "Well done," he told her, kissing the top of her head. "I'm really proud of you."

"Does that mean Emy and I can go see a movie tonight?" Ava asked.

"How about we compromise?" Ji asked. "I'll supply the cookies and ice cream, and you can have a movie night at home?"

Emily and Ava exchanged looks and nodded. "Sounds fair," Ava said, looking back at her father. She reached up and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, Daddy."

"Mentor says you had a plan," Mike said. "What was it?"

Emily rolled her eyes and glanced at Ava. They had promised to tell the others everything when they made it home, and now was a good a time as any.

"The only way to actually save you," Ava said, "was to change bodies with Switchbeast. He was the only one to know the secret on how to undo what he had done."

Mike grinned. "Creative," he nodded. "I like your style, Av."

Ava smiled. "I thought you might." She nodded.

"That was pretty risky," said Kevin, shaking his head. "What if something went wrong and you were trapped as a Nighlok forever?"

"Then you'd be trapped as ballerina," said Ava. "At least I would've still had the ability to move around and communicate."

"But you did it by yourselves," Mia smiled. "Just the two of you."

Emily shook her head. "It was mostly Ava," she said, knowing exactly how Ava felt about being at the bottom of the group. The least she could've done was give her friend her time in the spotlight.

"No way," said Ava, "we're a team. I couldn't have done it without you, Em."

Emily smiled.

"Well, if it wasn't for you, I'd still be a gnome." Jayden said, wrapping an arm around Ava and squeezing her into a side hug. "Thanks."

The others laughed lightly.

"Yeah," Mike nodded, hugging Emily. "Thanks guys."

Emily and Ava smiled as they hugged Mike and Jayden back, respectively.

* * *

**Copyrighted ©**

**A/N: **This was a nightmare to get started. Three days before I could actually write anything remotely worth reading. And we learn about what is bothering Ava. In other news: One folder down. Two to go.

**Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx**

**Chapter updated Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 5:51am**


	4. Chapter 4: Something Fishy

**Dedications:** Big thank you to the following: **linkhaxor56** for adding this story and/or me to their alerts. Very much appreciated.

**Chapter Four: Something Fishy**

I don't own Power Rangers Super Samurai. But I do own any original characters that are of my own creation.

* * *

**Title:** The Legend of the White Samurai

**Summary:** Follows The Little Samurai. In order to finish the battle against the evil Master Xandred, Ava must finally learn the secret that her family has kept from her for generations. Will she fully understand the true meaning behind her Samurai destiny before it is too late?

* * *

"Hey, has anyone seen Cheetah?" Ava asked, sticking her head into the kitchen. After her secret had been revealed to the whole team - who had admitted that they had heard the whole conversation between the white and yellow rangers the day Switchbeast had traded them with objects - Ava had started to slowly become her normal self again.

"Have you checked under your bed?" Emily asked. "You know how she likes to hide under there."

Mike grinned. "She's like a ninja," he joked. "One with the shadows."

"I checked," Ava said. "She's not there. Daddy, have you seen Cheetah?" she added as her father came in from the back garden.

"Not since last night," Mentor answered. "But I wouldn't worry. She'll come home when she's hungry."

Ava sighed and dropped down onto her stool at the kitchen table. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she nodded. "I just like to know where she is. I mean, I know she was once a stray, so she knows the streets and everything, but there's nothing stopping anyone else claiming ownership over her."

"Like you did?" Kevin asked.

"Exactly!" said Ava, smiling at Jayden as he set a cup of tea in front of her. "I don't want to find out that someone has adopted my cat!"

Mike and Emily exchanged looks.

"Tell you what," said Mia, leaning across the table to pat Ava's hand. "If Cheetah's not home by dark, we'll make flyers and put them up downtown. That way if anyone sees Cheetah they can call us and we can go pick her up, OK?"

Ava looked considerate, before nodding. "OK!" she said, just before the Gap sensor sounded, loudly.

**~*Something Fishy*~**

Meanwhile, over in the park, Antonio was having trouble coming to terms with the fact that he had nearly been eaten by a cat. He sat on his camping stool and stared out over the rippling waters of the lake. He wasn't in the mood to fish today; he had only told his friends that he was going fishing as he needed to get out of the house.

While he contemplated his fear of fish - any rational person would have said he was afraid of cats but he knew having a fear of cats wouldn't work while living with a cat so his fear had latched onto the next best thing which happened to the be the object he had turned into - his morpher beeped, alerting him to an incoming call.

He checked the LCD screen to see it was Jayden calling him; there must have been a Nighlok attack somewhere, why else would Jayden have been calling him? He sighed and raised the morpher to his ear. "Hello?"

"_There's a Mooger attack in the city centre,"_ said Jayden. "_We're on our way. Meet us there._"

Antonio lowered his head, but didn't reply.

"_Antonio, did you hear me?_"

"Yeah. Yeah, i'm on it," he confirmed. He hung up and stared at his morpher. "It's time to go to battle for the last time." He snapped the morpher shut and took off towards the city.

**~*Something Fishy*~**

"Blazing strike!"

Furious hot flames wrapped around the Moogers, turning them to dust. However, as several fell more appeared to replace them.

Ava groaned as she re-joined Jayden. She, Mia and Emily had been helping the innocent civilians in the city centre get to safety. "Is it is Mooger migration season or what?" she asked.

"Don't worry about it, Av," Mike smiled, patting her shoulder. "They're just Moogers."

"Then let's stop talking and start fighting," said Jayden.

Finally, Antonio arrived, his face was deathly pale and he was holding himself rigid. "Go, Go Samurai," he muttered, punching in his code on his morpher. "Gold power." There was a flash of gold and Antonio changed into his ranger form. "Barracuda Blade!" he said, summoning his primary weapon; he took one look at it, screamed and threw it away.

"Antonio, what's wrong?" Mia frowned.

Antonio struggled to his feet back shuffled backwards away from his weapon. "Urgh! I can't do it!" he cried, falling to his knees and burying his head in his hands.

Ava lowered her spin sword and hurried towards her brother; she dropped to her knees and tugged at Antonio's wrist as he demorphed.

"What's up with Antonio?" Mike asked, looking around at the others.

"We'll have to worry about him later," said Jayden. "Let's deal with these guys first. Ava, stay with him."

"Got it!" Ava nodded, relinquishing her morpher and trying to get Antonio to sit up. He was insistent to stay curled up in a ball, muttering over and over to himself.

When a screech caught her attention, Ava looked up to see three Moogers heading right for her and Antonio, she quickly punched in a code on her morpher, and summoned her Spin Sword to hand, and she swung it upwards and blocked the attack.

"Blazing strike!"

Ava coughed as the Moogers disintegrated, blowing ash all over her. She shook her head and looked up as Jayden landed in front of her. "A little heads up next time," she said, brushing the ash from her face, the bits that had landed on her clothes would have to fall off on its own or she'd run the risk of making the situation worse than it already was.

"Guys," Jayden called to the others. "Let's turn up the heat!"

The others nodded and regrouped in front of Ava and Antonio They fired up their spin swords and slashed at the Moogers. "Quintuple Slash!" they yelled. There was an almighty explosion, one that caused the Moogers to retreat, before the rangers raced over to Ava and Antonio.

Jayden wrapped his arm around Ava as she leaned back into him; she had managed to get Antonio into a sitting position, but he was now rocking back and forth, his arms wrapped around his knees which he hugged to his chest and his face buried in his thighs. He refused to look at any of them.

"Hey, it's OK, buddy," said Mike, shaking his friend.

"Antonio, are you OK?" Mia asked. She wrapped her arm around the gold Ranger, who groaned as if he was in pain.

"What's wrong?" Kevin asked.

Antonio sighed and looked up. "I'm sorry, you guys," he said, as he stopped rocking.

"You don't want to forget this," said Emily, holding up the Barracuda blade.

"No! No!" Antonio yelled, pushing the weapon away from him and crawling a short distance away. The others pulled back in surprise. "Get it away from me! I can't touch my barracuda blade. It reminds me of - of - fish!"

Ava frowned and glanced up at Jayden. "Fish?" she repeated.

"Let's get home," Jayden suggested. "Maybe we'll get more out of him there."

**~*Something Fishy*~**

Once they had returned home, Ava hurried off to see if Cheetah had returned home, while Antonio sat on the steps leading out of the common room; the others all sat on their respective stools behind him and Emily was getting him a glass of water from the kitchen. He had managed to explain, with much forcing, that he was afraid of fish because he had nearly been eaten by Cheetah, no one found it to be a laughing matter, although if the situation hadn't been so serious, it probably would have been.

"But Antonio grew up in a fish shop," said Mentor as he paced behind his rangers. "He fishes every day, and what, now he's afraid of fish? You guys are kidding me right?"

"This is no joke, Ji," said Jayden.

Mike sighed and shook his head.

"Well, when that Nighlok switched our souls with objects," said Kevin, "Antonio did get turned into a fish."

"Cheetah came really close to eating him," added Mia. "Now he isn't even able to touch fish."

"Seriously?"

"Mm-hmm," Mia nodded. "The logical explanation would be that he should fear cats," she added, "but he knows that he can't force Ava to give Cheetah up, so his sub-conscious has latched onto the next best thing and that happens to be the only source that was around at the time his fear developed, and that's fish.

"I'm through," Antonio sighed. "The golden age of Antonio is officially at an end."

"The golden age of Antonio?" Kevin repeated, shaking his head in disbelief. "All right. Look, you didn't get eaten, so pull yourself together."

"He's right, dude," Mike agreed. "Come on. You taught yourself how to be a Samurai. You can beat this."

Emily nodded. "Yeah, anyone who figured out how to program the Black Box can teach themselves how to deal with their fears." She smiled, encouragingly.

"You don't get it," said Antonio, turning around. "I almost got eaten by a cat."

"Calm down," said Mia, as she sat on the otherside of Antonio. She wrapped her arms around him reassuringly. "It's OK."

Kevin shook his head and leaned in closer to Jayden. "It is _not_ OK," he said. "He's officially lost it."

Ava hurried back into the common room. Her appearance startled the others, who had completely forgotten that she was even in the house. She wasn't carrying Cheetah which meant that the feline had yet to return. "Is everything OK?" she asked.

"How much did you hear?" Jayden asked.

"Not much," Ava answered. "Why, did I miss anything important?"

"After his little run in with Cheetah," said Kevin, "Antonio has developed a fear of fish."

Ava nodded slowly. "And that's a problem?" she asked.

"He's a fisherman who's afraid of fish," said Mike, pointing out the obvious.

"So?" Ava shrugged. "You're afraid of enclosed spaces and Jayden's afraid of spiders; that doesn't make you any less of a ranger."

"You don't get it, Av," Jayden said. "He can't touch his barracuda blade, much less use it. He can't be a ranger without it."

Ava looked thoughtful. "Well, that just means we'll have to help him overcome his fear," she said, looking up at her best friend.

"How are we going to do that?" Kevin asked.

"Because fear is more complex than just forgetting or deleting memories, an active and successful approach involves a person repeatedly confronting their fears." Ava said.

Mia frowned. "That sounds dangerous," she said.

"It worked for me," said Ava. "After my mom died, I'd wake in the middle of the night screaming for her. Daddy, you took me to see Dr. Gerald because my nightmares weren't ordinary nightmares, remember he said that I had developed a fear of Xandred through losing mom? He suggested that I undergo therapy in order to help me deal with my fear, remember?"

Ji nodded. He remembered the days clearly. Ava's fear over Xandred had been partly the reason that he had wanted to halt her training to become a Samurai, because he knew that she would have to face him one day.

"During my sessions with my therapist, she worked for Dr. Gerald so she knew all about my fears and nightmares, would have me imagine a situation where I was afraid, and since I was afraid of Xandred and knew that I would one day face when I became a Samurai, imagining being in a scary situation with him wasn't that hard." Ava continued. "My therapist would then walk me through the different procedures of how to overcome the feeling of anxiety. She said it was exposure therapy. Sometimes it didn't work, and I'd start panicking, but my next session we'd do it again... and again... and again until the feeling of fear and anxiety went away, and I was able to sleep in my own bed without waking up half way through the night screaming my head off. I was curious has to how she did it, so one day, after my session, while I waited for Daddy to pick me up, I asked how she managed to cure me; she just laughed and said that I was completely cured, I was just able to suppress the fear-triggering memory."

"So, what do we do?" Mike asked. He was completely confused on what Ava had just said to him, all he understood was that she used to suffer with fears and nightmares of Xandred and one day, after a few visits to a therapist she was cured.

"By confronting his fears - in a safe manner - Antonio will be able to suppress the fear-triggering memory, which would be the point where Cheetah nearly ate him." Ava answered. "All we have to do is encourage him by facing our own fears, and since I already faced mine when I was a little girl, you guys get to be my guinea pigs."

The other rangers groaned.

Ava giggled and looked around. "Don't worry," she smiled. "I only need three. Mike, Jayden, I know you're fears, so you're guinea pigs 1 and 2..." the red and green Rangers exchanged looks as Ava looked around at the other's, "Em, you can stay with Antonio, and Kevin can help me, so, Mia, that makes you guinea pig number 3."

"Great," Mia groaned, looking across at Jayden and Mike, neither of them looked happy to have been chosen as the test subjects.

**~*Something Fishy*~**

Emily hesitated as she put down the phone and turned to her best friend. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked. "You know how Jayden feels."

"Do you have any better ideas?" Ava asked. "Other than going out and hunting down a frog and spider ourselves, Luke is the next best thing."

"Yeah, but he's your ex-boyfriend, Ava," said Emily. "He may have mutually agreed to break up with you because of the whole Power Ranger destiny, but inviting him back into your life eight months after breaking up isn't a very good idea."

Ava sighed and glanced down the hall towards the common room. "It's for Antonio," she said. "He accepted Luke straight off the bat, and after I explain to Luke what's going on, he'll understand that this isn't me wanting him back; besides, he knows how I feel about Jayden, and he even said himself that Jayden was the one for me."

"If you're sure," Emily said, hesitantly.

The doorbell rang throughout the house.

"I'll get it." Jayden shouted.

Ava's eyes widened and she quickly raced Jayden towards the door. "It's OK," she said catching his arm and turning him around. "I got it. You go and check on Antonio or Mike, make sure neither of them make a break for it."

"Are you OK?" Jayden asked, looking dubious.

"I'm fine," Ava smiled. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You seem anxious."

"You're the one who should be anxious," said Ava, "seeing as in a few minutes you're gonna be facing your fears."

The doorbell rang again.

"I thought you were going to answer that." Jayden teased.

"Yeah, after you've gone to check on the others for me," Ava said, pushing him down the hall. "Please?"

Jayden eyed her curiously. "You're hiding something," he said, "but I'll humor you for now. Don't be long, who knows when a Nighlok will show up."

Ava nodded and watched as Jayden disappeared into the common room, she prayed that Emily would have the sense to help her out a bit and keep him occupied while she answered the door.

**~*Something Fishy*~**

"Yuck," Ava shuddered as Luke held up the plastic tumbler with a brown spider inside. The spindly thing was pressed against the side. "How did you get it so fast?" she asked.

"My uncle collects them," said Luke, "he said I could borrow him for a few hours. You're not planning on killing it, are you?"

Ava shook her head. "No, we run into a situation," she said. "We're trying to help Antonio overcome his fear of fish. I haven't got time to explain, but I need the spider because Jayden is terrified of them. Do you have the frog?"

"I caught this yesterday," said Luke, holding up the slimy green frog. "Lucy, my sister loves them, but my mum'd kill her if she brought it home. It's been living in the garden shed in a bowl of water, I had to get rid of it before mum or dad saw it."

"Is that your way of saying I can kill it?"

Luke rolled his eyes. He knew Ava well enough to know that she wouldn't kill the frog, the spider, maybe, but never the frog. "I'll pick the spider up tonight, yeah?" he asked.

Ava nodded. "Yup. I'll have him ready and waiting for you," she promised.

"Thanks," Luke smiled. "Uh... well... I better get going."

"Are you working tonight?" Ava asked.

"7 till 11," Luke nodded. "See you later."

Ava waved and waited until he had drove out of sight, before she released the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding; that encounter had gone a lot smoother and easier than she had expected.

Holding up the spider container, Ava shivered as the spider dropped from the side and scurried across the small bottom. She almost dropped it as she imagined it running across her hand; she hated spiders, not as much as Jayden, but still enough to cringe when she was near one.

"Let's get this over with," she muttered, hurrying back inside.

**~*Something Fishy*~**

"Are you ready, Antonio?" Emily asked the gold Ranger. "Look, Jayden's overcoming his fear of spiders."

She nodded at the red Ranger, who held out his arm for Mia, who, in return, held up the plastic tumbler that Ava had given her. Mia unscrewed the lid and watched as an eight-legged brown spider scuttled out onto Jayden's arm.

"Yeah," Jayden said, his voice strained. "I'm fine with them. The Samurai can overcome any fear."

The spider continued to crawl up Jayden's arm.

"Whatever you do," said Ava, "don't kill the spider."

"Why not?" Jayden asked.

"Because it's not mine." Ava answered. "And I promised the owner that I'd get it back to him by tonight."

Mia narrowed her eyes at the white Ranger. Ava shook her head once and cast her gaze down, avoiding Jayden's eyes.

Kevin cleared his throat and patted Mike on the shoulder. "Mike's afraid of enclosed spaces," he told Antonio. "Come on." He hooked the green Ranger under the arm and led him to the supply closet.

"Seriously?" Mike asked, looking at the cramped space. "Uh, can't I do the imaginary thing, like Ava did?"

"Ava _had_ to do it all mentally, Mike," said Kevin, "she couldn't face Xandred as a kid. She'll do it for real when he grows strong enough to leave the Sanzu River, then she'll really have to face her fears."

"Thanks for you vote of confidence, Kev," Ava called from the common room. She was watching as the spider crawled up to Jayden's shoulder, and further up to his arm. She shuddered as a shiver run down her spine.

"Help!" Mike shouted, before Ji and Kevin returned. The green Ranger had put up a bit of a struggle, but they had managed to get him into the closest.

"Watch this," said Emily. "Mia has her own fears to overcome." She picked up the silver covered plate from the table and held it in front of the pink Ranger; she removed the lid to reveal a croaking frog underneath. Mia gasped in fear.

"Frogs make Mia's skin crawl." Ava said.

"But maybe a kiss will turn him into prince charming," Mia said, nervously edging closer to the slimy green amphibian. She kissed its lips and recoiled, wiping her lips on the back of her hand. "Oh, yuck!"

Ava and Kevin exchanged looks from across the room.

Antonio looked unconvinced. He knew that his friends were only trying to help, but they didn't seem to understand that all fears were different. Just because Mike could overcome his fear of enclosed spaces, or Jayden could deal with a spider crawling all over him, didn't mean that he could deal with fish.

"This better work," said Kevin as he passed Ava on his way to the kitchen.

The white Ranger frowned and watched him go. Didn't he realize that she wanted Antonio to suppress his fear more than anyone? She didn't want to lose her twin brother again, she knew that if Antonio wasn't a Power Ranger then he might have left Paranoma City, she didn't want that to happen, which is why she had suggested this therapy idea.

Kevin returned from the kitchen with a fish on a plate; he set it down in front of Antonio, who recoiled in fear. "Antonio," he sighed, "you've touched thousands of fish before this. All you have to do is put your hand on this one."

Antonio held his breath and glanced at the fish, terrified that it was suddenly gonna jump off the plate and bite him. He looked to Kevin and shook his head.

"All right," Kevin sighed, nudging his friend. "You want to talk scary? Mia cooked this..." he held up a bowl of sludge. "Now, I'll even take a bite of this -" he gagged at the idea of putting the sludge in his mouth, "if you touch the fish."

Antonio looked surprised. Mia wasn't the best cook in the world, and for Kevin to even suggest that he'd eat something she had made, just to help him overcome his fear, showed how much the blue Ranger was willing to help.

"Rangers together, right?" Kevin asked.

Antonio nodded and prepared himself. He looked to Kevin who had started counting backwards. "Three... "

Mia and Emily exchanged looks.

"... Two..."

Ava pushed herself away from the wall, and leaned closer to watch. She wanted to see if her idea had worked.

"... One!"

Kevin shoved a mouthful of sludge into his mouth as Antonio recoiled from the fish. "I can't do it," he cried, just as the Gap sensor went off and Kevin shot him a look of betrayal.

Jayden shoved the spider off of his shoulder; it scuttled away the second it hit the floor. Ava opened her Samuraizer, drew a symbol and pushed it towards the insect. A tumbler appeared over the runaway insect, and, with a little more help from her symbol power, Ava was able to secure it within the plastic tumbler ready to give back to Luke.

With the spider taken care of, Ava returned to the others as Mike shot out of the closet. "The edge of the city," said Ji, "near the western woods."

"Let's go," said Jayden. He grabbed Ava's hand and pulled her towards the door, whispering, "We'll talk about Luke when we get home," into her ear.

Ava smiled, sheepishly up at him.

Kevin blasted past his friends, only he was going in the opposite direction. He slipped back into the common room and spat the sludge out of his mouth and back into the bowl. "This is really bad!" he told Antonio, before chasing after his friends once again.

Antonio sighed as they left. He then looked up at Ji. "It's done. I'm over. I'm sorry, Mentor, I can't go with them," he shrugged, "I just can't."

"Maybe so," Mentor nodded, looking thoughtful. "But there is something you can do in the meantime."

"What?" Antonio asked.

Ji left the room for a brief second and then returned. "I gave you the Clawzord, and you brought it back to life," he said, setting a red and blue lantern down on the table, "This is the Lightzord. An ancient zord that no Samurai has been able to unlock for centuries and your symbol power is light and you could be the first."

Antonio looked intrigued. "OK," he nodded. "I'll try."

**~*Something Fishy*~**

People screamed as they scampered away from the burning fireballs that rained down upon their city. They had no idea where they were coming from, but they did have the sense to get the hell out of the way before they were burned.

Meanwhile two Spitfangs stood on the edge of the forest, overlooking the city; they were the ones responsible for the fire bombs.

"Hey, Spitfangs," Jayden shouted as he and the others arrived. "Time to shut your mouths!"

The Spitfangs turned, growling at the six rangers.

"Samuraizer!"

"Go, Go Samurai!"

"Samurai Ranger, ready," said Jayden. He swung his sword through the air and held it up, threateningly at the Spitfangs.

"Samurai Ranger, ready," said Kevin, holding his own spin sword up by the side of his head, the point sticking straight up into the air."

"Samurai Ranger, ready," said Mia, holding her sword vertically over her body, the point aimed towards the floor and the hilt at shoulder level.

"Samurai Ranger, ready," said Mike, he held his sword above his head with both hands, moving it to rest across his shoulders.

"Samurai Ranger, ready," said Emily, holding her sword vertically across her chest, the point aimed into the air, just over her right shoulder.

"Samurai Ranger, ready," said Ava, pulling her sword over her shoulders, before gripping it tightly with both hands.

"Rangers together!" the six rangers called out. "Samurai Forever!"

The Spitfangs roared and charged forward; the rangers raised their spin swords and rushed to meet them, but were knocked back as burning bright lightning hit the ground between them. There was a blast of energy and the rangers were knocked off their feet as the Spitfangs were destroyed.

"What was that?" Mia asked, pushing herself up onto her knees.

"A sneak attack," Mike answered, looking around. "It even took out their own guys!"

Jayden nodded and glanced around at his team. Mike and Mia were on their knees, while Kevin and Emily struggled to push themselves up, and Ava lay on her stomach beside him, her attention was focused on the empty field across from them.

"There!" Ava suddenly shouted as a black shape fell from the skies. It laughed as it grew closer and the rangers were able to see it was more than just an unidentified object. It was a Nighlok.

"So, you're the current Samurai Power Rangers," the Nighlok said. "How illuminating."

"Illuminating?" Ava repeated.

"It's another word for 'interesting'," said Kevin.

Ava shot him a look, but because of their helmets, he didn't see it.

"Allow me to introduce myself," the Nighlok continued. "My name is Serrator, and I recently became the newest passenger aboard Master Xandred's ship. The last time I walked in this pitiful realm was so long ago. I've returned to shake the very foundation of your world. But for now, shall we test how though you really are?"

The rangers tightened the grips on their spin blades as they rose back to their feet.

"This is no ordinary bad guy," said Kevin, pointing out the obvious. If the last time he had been on Earth was a long, long time ago, then it must have been around the time of their great-great-great-great grandparents, maybe even longer.

"Everybody be at the top of your game," Jayden warned.

Ava swallowed. The top of her game meant relying on her symbol power, her fighting skills still had room for improvement, not that the others didn't either, but they were moving so fast through each level of their fighting skills that she had been left behind. Her training lessons with Jayden had increased to almost every night, and every night he annihilated her without even trying.

"I'm toast!" she muttered.

**~*Something Fishy*~**

Antonio sighed as he pulled his fishing cart towards the lake. He was back at the park, in a small secluded area so that he was away from the prying eyes of the public.

_**I may not be able to fight**_, he thought. _**But I won't fail Mentor or the team. **_

He set up his campstool and set the Lightzord down on top of it.

_**I will unlock the power of the Lightzord... if it's the last thing I do.**_

Antonio stepped back, moved his fishing cart aside, and knelt in the ground playing with his samurai morpher. This should have been easier than trying to unlock the Black Box, but he was sure it was still going to take a great deal of energy from him.

Thankfully enough he and Ava had been working on their symbol power together and during one of their afternoon sessions Ava had explained to him how she managed to recover her energy so quickly. Since she was hyperactive and always on the go, she had excess energy to spare, which is what she tapped into when she was using her symbol power.

According to Ava, aside from her, there were only two other people on the team that shared the same excess energy. Himself and Mike.

Closing his eyes, Antonio focused all of his concentration onto the excess energy that he had building up inside him, all those years of chasing Ava around the Shiba house, growing up and racing around his school after he had moved, he had created new friends in his new school but none of them compared to Jayden and Ava; none of them were as cool as his Samurai friends.

Antonio smiled and punched in a three-digit code on his morpher. "Let there be LIGHT!" he said, as several strands of light symbols emitted from his LCD screen. They floated through the air and disappeared into the Lightzord.

**~*Something Fishy*~**

"Time for the test!" Serrator announced. He threw out his hand; four sharp talons flew at the rangers. Five of them blocked the attack with their spin swords, while Jayden jumped into the air, slashing down at Serrator with his spin sword. Serrator blocked with his free hand, he pushed the spin blade away and retracted his claws, before slashing across Jayden with both hands.

"Jayden!" Ava cried, as Mia, Mike, Kevin and Emily rushed into deal with Serrator. She was nervous about attacking him, as she knew that he'd knock her around like a ragdoll. Ava felt her hands tremble as she gripped her spin sword, she was terrified, but she couldn't show that in battle, the Nighlok would rip her apart if they knew she doubted her own fighting skills.

"It's been a long time since I've had a good fight," said Serrator, as he made quick work of the other rangers. "It feels glorious!"

Serrator grabbed Mia by the head and threw her back towards the edge of the forest.

Kevin felt his hands tighten around his spin blade. He waited for Mia to move before going in for the attack on Serrator. He was more than angry at the Nighlok for attacking Mia. "Bring it!" he shouted, jumping into the air and slashing down.

"Well, let me take a jab at this!" said Serrator. His claws extended and jabbed rapidly into the blue Ranger. Kevin groaned as he was blasted backwards into a stone wall.

Emily cried out as she rushed in for a second time. Serrator laughed as he kicked her feet out from under her, and aimed a kick for her stomach. Emily saw the attack coming and rolled away, leaving enough space for Mike to rush in and cover her.

"Emily!" the green Ranger shouted, swinging his sword at Serrator.

Serrator's raked his claws over Mike's body. The green Ranger groaned as he was tossed away like a rag doll, and Serrator turned on Ava, who had seemingly frozen. He laughed and stalked towards her. "Now it's time to take a swipe at you!" he hissed.

"Ava!" Mike shouted, recovering quickly. "Move!"

Ava trembled in fear as Serrator stalked towards her. She knew that she had to move and defend herself, but her insecurities over her fighting skills were enough to keep her in place; she remembered the fight against Switchbeast, and the cruelties of her own mind hissed at her, reminding her that she wouldn't have been able to defeat him had it not been for the Black Box.

"Ava, snap out of it!" Mia shouted, as Ava remained frozen.

Thankfully, having recovered from his initial attack, Jayden jumped over Ava and slashed down at Serrator. The Nighlok disappeared in a flash and reappeared behind Jayden.

"Missing someone, young Ranger?" he sneered, slashing at Jayden with his fan. The red Ranger managed to put up a bit more of a fight, seeing as he was fighting more to protect Ava than anything else.

Terror ripped through Ava as Jayden's yell of pain echoed into the air; she looked up just in time to see him being thrown aside as Serrator attacked him with a serrated-edged fan that he had summoned from nowhere.

Serrator turned back to the white Ranger; with the others out of the way he had a clear path to her, and, by the look of things, she was the only one brave enough to admit defeat seeing as she had refused to fight him. "How unexpected," he said. "I thought you'd all be tougher. Some of you," he sneered at Ava, "can't even defend themselves... how do expect to protect the Earth if you can't protect yourself?"

Ava let the words cut her deep. Serrator's words couldn't hurt her as much as her own could. She already knew that she didn't deserve the destiny her mother had left her. She was a Power Ranger that couldn't find her insecurities were stronger than her abilities to hold her own in battle; what kind of Power Ranger depended on their team-mates to protect them? What kind of Power Ranger swore to protect humanity when they couldn't even defend themselves?

She wasn't a Power Ranger... she was nothing but a burden.

**~*Something Fishy*~**

"Symbol Power! Light!" Antonio said again. He pointed his morpher at the Lightzord and emptied more and more of his energy into it; his friends needed his help, he couldn't fight, but he could give them a new zord. He smiled as a symbol appeared on the exterior of the zord, he was half way there.

Suddenly his symbols died as did his concentration.

His morpher beeped, alerting him to an incoming call. He accepted it and put the morpher to his ear. "Hello?"

"_Antonio, the team is in trouble,"_ Mentor said, down the line. "_They are down a ranger!"_

"What do you mean?" Antonio asked.

"_Ava's frozen,_" Mentor answered. "_She hasn't moved since the initial attack. You need to join them."_

Antonio hesitated. He wanted to go help Jayden and the others, he had a strong inkling as to what was wrong with Ava, but he never expected it to happen in the middle of a battle, he knew how dangerous that was; but he also knew that he couldn't handle the fight himself as he still wasn't over his fear of fish.

"I can't," he said. "I'm still not cured of my fear."

Just the mere thought of using his Barracuda Blade was enough to end shivers down his spine.

**~*Something Fishy*~**

"Maybe you'll _all_ rise to the occasion," said Serrator, clapping his hands. His eyes were still on Ava, for some reason he felt drawn to her. Like there was something about her that made her a prime target for his attacks, his only problem was a) she refused to fight him, and b) the other rangers were very protective of her; he needed to eliminate them if he was ever to get his shot at her.

He smirked as the perfect idea popped to mind. An idea that would keep the other rangers occupied and give him a clear shot at the white Ranger; he'd get her to fight. He'd threaten, taunt, and generally persuade her until she was angry enough to fight back. He just needed to know the right buttons to push.

"In a few moments we shall see if you're really cut out for this," said Serrator, as he held up a piece of A4 paper and started snipping away with his hands. After a few minutes he held up a cutout of a creature, which he attached to a black cardboard with a thin film of clear plastic. He then threw the picture into the air where it materialized as a 30ft creature.

"The Pyrox," Serrator explained. "My own creation. Obeys my thoughts. Follows my every command. He cut and he destroys. Consider this your new test. Either you pass or you fail."

The Pyrox looked down at the rangers and fired several energy blasts at them. The ground exploded and each of the rangers, including Ava, were blasted through the air.

"If this Nighlok wants to give us a bigger challenge," said Jayden, getting back to his feet. "It's time we give him one right back. Super Samurai Mode!" there was a flash of white as Jayden powered up to the next level of defence. "You guys handle Serrator, keep him away from Ava, I don't know what's wrong with her, but she is attracting a lot of attention from him. I'll take on this overgrown snowflake."

"Right!" the others nodded, helping one another to their feet.

Jayden glanced over at Ava. She had managed to crawl back to her knees, but her thoughts and insecurities seemed to be stronger than her. He knew that he'd have to talk to her about believing in herself, that's all it really took to achieve the things you wanted. Ava believed in a lot of things. She had believed in her mother and his father, she had believed in her father, and she believed in him and the other Rangers, but not once, in her whole life, had she ever believed in herself.

"Airstrike combination!" Jayden commanded, powering up the Black Box with the combination disk. "Battlewing Megazord armed for battle!"

**~*Something Fishy*~**

Mentor Ji was a man on a mission.

His daughter had completely frozen in the middle of a big battle, and he wasn't sure why. He had his theories, but he didn't want to believe that her fears were that strong. Ava had a lot of fears, Xandred was one of them, losing her friends was another and her insecurities was the biggest of them all.

Many people, Jayden included, didn't realize that Ava's insecurities about her fighting abilities affect most of Ava's life. Her training suffered because she always compared herself to the others on the team, her battles suffered because she was afraid of being a burden to the other Rangers, she hated herself for being the 'damsel in distress' and always got angry when someone teased her about always needed saving.

But even so, Mentor couldn't help but blame himself for her insecurities. Ava had the ability to be as good a fighter as Jayden, if only he had allowed her to train like Jayden had done. But she was his daughter, he didn't want her to be a Power Ranger, but Ava and Jayden were a force to be reckoned with when they were teamed together.

Both Jayden and Ava had argued with him day in, day out to let Ava being the Power Ranger that she rightfully was; but he had been determined to not let her near the battles that had cost him his wife. He had no control over Jayden, he had a reason to be the red Ranger, he had sole custody over Ava and could dictate her life until she was eighteen, but he had always spoilt his daughter and given in to her every whim and need, she always got what she wanted.

Now it seemed that he had made the wrong choice.

1) He had agreed to let her become a ranger. If he had stuck to his final decision of her not taking on the destiny his late wife had left, and letting it die with Evelyn then Ava would be at home safe and out of the way of danger.

2) He had delayed Ava's ability to sword fight until she was in her teens. If she had practiced from her toddler years, like Jayden had done, then she'd be just as strong and good a fighter as Kevin and Jayden. She wouldn't be at the bottom of the Samurai food chain, she wouldn't doubt her abilities, and she'd know that she was a good enough fighter for anyone.

All in all it was his fault. He knew that now. But he couldn't go back in time and prevent his past self from treating past Ava exactly has he had done; Ava needed to believe in herself, and realize that it was never too late to learn how to become a better and stronger fighter, he would teach her himself, if she'd let him... but first he had to deal with Antonio.

A fear was an emotion... and an emotion could be dealt with.

_**Time to end his fear,**_ he thought as he approached the Gold ranger, who had no idea he was even there, _**once and for all.**_

**~*Something Fishy*~**

"Now just be the good rangers that you are and stay down!" Serrator shouted as the pink, green, yellow and blue Rangers hit the ground again. They were more annoying than ants at a picnic, neither one of them knew when to admit defeat. "Giving up and admitting defeat comes so natural to some," he said. "Take a page out of you white Ranger's book and surrender to me now. It'll be much less painful."

"We'll never surrender to the Nighlok!" Kevin said. "You may be able to scare one of us into submission... but you can't scare us all. Ava may have her problems, but she's a strong Ranger! We'll figure out what you've done to her and we will help her overcome it. You will not beat us by going through her!"

Serrator growled at him. "Let us see you help her when there is nothing left to help," he said, extending his claws. He took aim at Ava. The steel-tipped talons were less than a meter away from the white Ranger when a blur slashed down at them. Serrator retracted his claws and growled at the intruder.

"Not so fast Serrator!" said Antonio as he jumped in front of Ava.

"Huh?!"

"What?"

Ava blinked and lifted her head. "Antonio?" she murmured, surprised to see her friend standing in front of her.

"Gold is back with a new toy!" Antonio grinned, holding up the Lightzord. "Did you guys miss me?"

"I knew you could do it!" Mia grinned, happy to see their seventh ranger back in action.

Antonio nodded and turned back to Serrator. "You want Ava?" he challenged. "You're gonna have to go through me!"

"So be it!" Serrator said.

"You think i'm scared of you?" Antonio scoffed. "Nothing can stop me or my new pal," he held up the gadget in his hand. "Lightzord! And don't let appearances fool you, this Zord kicks butt."

"Interesting," said Serrator, clearly unaware on who Antonio was. Since he wasn't a true Samurai, like his friends, none of the Nighlok's had any clue as to the type of threat he possessed to them. "What a strange little creature. Too bad I couldn't care less about you. Get a kick out of this!" he dropped a Nighlok-looking soccer ball to the ground and kicked it at Antonio.

The gold Ranger slashed through it with ease.

"What?" Serrator growled.

"Lightzord battle disk," Antonio commanded. "Scatter shot!"

Several power disks shot out of the Lightzord, distracting Serrator long enough for Antonio to go in for the attack. Jumping into the air, Antonio slashed down with his blade. "My turn to go on the offense!" he shouted, taking Serrator by surprise.

"Now, this is the thrashing I expected from Master Xandred," Serrator hissed. Antonio's attack hurting more than he expected. "I underestimated you."

"Underestimated his right!" Antonio nodded.

"Very well," Serrator said, throwing out his hand. "You passed the test for now. Fare thee well, Rangers, and white Ranger, the next time we meet, you won't be so lucky!"

Ava sighed as Serrator disappeared through a gap. Shakily she pushed herself to her feet and stumbled back from the battlefield as Antonio checked over the others, and Jayden was still get thrashed about by the Pyrox; she wanted to help, and now that Serrator was gone she found that she was no longer afraid, but she had the gut wrenching feeling that no one wanted her help now, and who could blame them?

Instead, as Antonio showed off the amazing abilities and powers of his new Zord, Ava stepped under the cover of the trees and demorphed. She hated herself for letting the team down, and couldn't bear to see the disappointment on their faces when they finally returned to her. Instead she turned her back on the fighting and headed for home; she'd take their frustration later, right now she needed to clear her head and figure out herself exactly what had just happened.

**~*Something Fishy*~**

After a long battle, and an even longer discussion on why Ava had frozen and then just left the battle without telling anyone, the rangers, excluding their loveable ball of pent up energy, sat around the table in the back garden. Ji was in the house trying to coax Ava to come out of her room and join them but the white Ranger was more than happy to just hide away under her bed.

"So you've clearly gotten over your fear of fish," said Mike, as Antonio presented him and the others with a plate of fish.

"Yup," Antonio nodded. "Not only am I cured, but now we also have the Lightzord on our team."

"And one very scared seventeen-year-old," said Kevin, with a heavy sigh. He, out of the whole group, was finding it the hardest to wrap his head around the fact that Ava had allowed her insecurities to hold her back today.

Antonio smiled. "Hey, Ava's strong," he defended. "She'll bounce back... she always does."

Jayden nodded in agreement. "I'll talk to her later and let her know that neither of us are angry with her," he said, "I think that's why she's afraid to leave her room."

"Antonio, you have to tell us," said Mia, nodding at Jayden's idea. She wasn't angry with Ava, she found it impossible to be mad at her, she just wished that Ava had come to them with her problems rather than kept them bottled up inside. "How did you get over your fear?"

Antonio smiled at the fond memory of Mentor stuffing a piece of sushi into his mouth at the park, before turning back to Mia. "Let's just say that Mentor taught me how to follow my gut," he said, earning a chuckle from the rest. "Fish?" he asked, holding up the plate.

"No, thanks," Mike said, while the others smiled and nodded.

Suddenly Antonio jumped as something brushed past his leg. He looked down and sighed, disappearing beneath the table before re-emerging with a ginger feline in his arms. "Anyone lose a cat?" he asked, looking pointedly at Emily.

"Cheetah!" Emily cried, ecstatic. She reached across the table and took the feline from the gold Ranger. "Where've you been? Ava's been going crazy!"

Cheetah meowed and purred as her humans made a fuss of her, although she couldn't help but wonder where the sixth and most important human was hiding.

**~*Something Fishy*~**

Later that evening, after the sun had set and the moon was high in the sky. Ava had wandered into the front garden to clear her head. She could hear her friends in the common room, they were laughing together as they played one of their favourite board games. She wanted to join them, but she still wasn't ready to face their disappointment, so until then she deserved to be alone.

Hearing the front door opening and closing, Jayden, who had been in the kitchen with Antonio getting snacks, left his friend to go investigate. He knew that it had to have been Ava, Ji was in his room researching Serrator in the archives and the other rangers were in the common room; and so with everyone separated now seemed like perfect time to talk to Ava.

"Hey," Jayden said, as he stepped outside the front door. Ava was sitting with her back to him on the front porch; she was hugging her knees and watching Cheetah chase the fireflies through the bushes. "You OK?"

Ava hesitated before shaking her head. "No," she answered, finding that she couldn't lie to him. What was the point? She had lied about her insecurities and her fears, and look where that had got her. "I screwed up."

"You didn't screw up," Jayden reassured her.

"I froze!" Ava argued. "If you and the others hadn't been there..." she shook her head, and looked away, tears welling her eyes at her own stupidity, "I would've been killed! I'm useless!"

Jayden sighed and tried to wrap his arm around her. Ava shrugged him off and jumped to her feet, but she didn't get very far as Jayden caught her wrist to stop her from running away from him. "You're not useless," he said, straightening up.

"If I'm not useless then what am I?" Ava asked. "I'm not brave... I'm not courageous..." she sighed, heavily. "Serrator was right about one thing, I don't deserve to be a Power Ranger."

"Since when do we listen to Nighlok's?"

"Since they tell the truth!"

"Ava, bravery and courage don't make you a ranger," Jayden said.

"Then what does?"

"It takes heart and soul to win a battle," said Jayden, "even when you think that you have no fight left in you. You're the heart and soul of this entire team, Ava; we'd be lost without you!"

Ava looked away. "It doesn't change anything," she said. "I'm still a screw up. I fought long and hard with daddy to get him to agree to let me be a Power Ranger... I should have just listened to him and stayed out of the way! I'd be much less of a burden if I just stayed on the sidelines like I was -"

She broke off as Jayden leaned in and touched his lips to hers. Ava sighed into but didn't attempt to pull away, even has Jayden held her shoulder to stop her if she tried.

"You're not a burden," said Jayden, when they finally broke apart. "So enough with the self-doubt. You're a great ranger; you just have to believe in yourself, because I believe in you."

"Really?"

Jayden kissed her again.

"Really."

* * *

**Copyrighted ©**

**A/N: **Before you all shout at once. Yes, the pairing just became officially Jayva or Java, whichever you prefer. Also, I know, Ava was a bit of a wuss in this chapter, but I wanted to get her insecurities out of the way, so that she can start the transformation into a 'super samurai' (excuse the pun). Reviews would be nice. [And yes, that was a PRDT quote at the end.]

**Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx**

**Chapter updated ****Tuesday, April 02, 2013 at 07:09am**


	5. Chapter 5: The Rescue

**Dedications:** Big thank you to the following: **JuicyJams, DJScales** and **Sweetortonlover86** for adding this story and/or me to their alerts. Very much appreciated.

**Chapter Five: The Rescue**

I don't own Power Rangers Super Samurai. But I do own any original characters that are of my own creation.

* * *

**Title:** The Legend of the White Samurai

**Summary: **Follows The Little Samurai. In order to finish the battle against the evil Master Xandred, Ava must finally learn the secret that her family has kept from her for generations. Will she fully understand the true meaning behind her Samurai destiny before it is too late?

* * *

'_We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot._'

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

* * *

It had been almost a week since Serrator had attacked and Ava had frozen for the entire battle; she had already spoken with Jayden, who had reassured her that she was not a failure as a Samurai and that she just needed a little more practice. He knew that she had it in her to be as good as him and the others, and after a conversation with Ji, who had apologized profusely for not doing right by him to teach his daughter the way of the Samurai, Ava had been more than ready to face the team about her insecurities.

Emily, who already knew about Ava's fears of being the youngest, smallest and least skilled Samurai, was totally understanding of her best friend's situation. She had sat with Ava for a good solid hour before the team meeting in the common room. She had tried calming Ava's thoughts about being a 'low-grade' Samurai, as Ava called it, and reassured her that the others were not going to tell her that she was a crappy fighter.

"Everyone has a weakness, Ava," Emily smiled, "even us Samurai. I was never meant to be a Samurai, it was always meant to be Serena, and she would be here instead of me had she not gotten sick. I didn't start my Samurai training until I was ten-years-old -"

"That's why your three-years ahead of me in training," Ava sighed.

"But three-years behind you in Symbol power," Emily said, squeezing Ava's hand. "You may be a slow learner when it comes to fighting, Av, but what you lack in fighting skills you make up for in symbol power. Your symbols are one of the strongest that I've ever witnessed, not even my mother or grandmother could produce a symbol that lasts as long as yours do."

Ava smiled, weakly. "I'm guessing snow in the middle of May was difficult to explain," she nodded.

"You think?" Emily giggled. "But we had fun, right? I mean, who can honestly say that they had a snowball fight and made snowmen in the summer?"

Ava nodded lightly. "But I can't rely on my symbol power in battle," she said. "If the Nighlok's find out that I can't hold my own then they're just going to target me constantly, and what about Serrator, huh? What about what he said before he disappeared? About how next time I won't be so lucky?"

"Next time you'll be ready for him," said a third voice. Emily and Ava looked up to see the other Samurai had joined them. Kevin, Mia, Mike, Antonio and Jayden quickly took their seats. It had been Kevin who had spoken. "Jayden told us why you froze."

Ava shot Jayden a cold look. He may have been the leader, and her best friend/boyfriend, but that didn't give him the right to go around telling the others her problems. They were her problems for a reason, and while she wanted the team to know the truth, she had wanted to be able to tell them herself.

"How can I possibly be ready to fight a Nighlok that scares the hell out of me every time he is around?" Ava asked, turning back to Kevin. "I can barely move when he is in the same vicinity has me, and if I freeze up again, and you guys are otherwise preoccupied, I'll be a sitting duck."

Emily squeezed Ava's hands as the youngest Samurai wrapped her arms around her legs and hugged them to her chest.

"We're going to help you train," said Kevin. "Just like you, we all started at the bottom."

"Yeah, but you make fighting look flawless," Ava protested. "It's hard to believe that you all used to be like me. I mean, I grew up watching Jayden learn how to fight, and even though I know the technique he do use, he still beats me! I can't second guess him like you can, Kevin."

Mike shook his head. "Neither could I," he said promptly. "I had a hard time starting out, remember? But you helped me realize that we don't all have to be as good as Jayden or Kevin. You made me realize that I was still a Samurai no matter what level I fought at."

Ava ducked her head. She remembered the incident quite well. "Yeah, but -" she started to protest.

"No, buts," said Mike, shaking his head. "Think of it as a game, Av," he smiled. "Everyone has to start at the beginning and work their way through the different levels to reach the end. We'll be your different levels. You can train against each of us -" he pointed at Emily, Antonio and himself, "as you work through your levels, and then, by the time you get to the end, you'll be ready to face Xandred."

"But Serrator -"

Mia wrapped her arm around Ava's shoulder. "Won't get a chance to harm you," she promised. "You're a strong Ranger, Av, Mentor told us that you could be as good as Jayden, but he delayed your fighting technique by having you concentrate more on your symbol power - he did that because he wanted to protect you, and he now realizes it was a mistake."

Ava muttered something along the lines of 'it's too late to learn now.'

"It's never too late to learn," said Antonio, tugging his twin's arms away from her face.

Ava's feet fell to the floor, and she leaned forward on her stool. Her head was bowed and she still refused to look at any of them, she was very ashamed of her skills, despite the others being very understanding of her predicament. They knew what it was like to be a beginner in the Samurai lifestyle, and they were more than ready to help her learn.

**~*The Rescue*~**

Emily smiled as Mike took the box of cat treats from the cupboard.

"I'm glad that Antonio got over his fear of fish," said Mike, "seeing Ava upset over her lack of fighting skills is bad enough, but I don't think I'd be able to stomach it if she had to give up Cheetah."

"I know what you mean," Emily nodded.

"Speaking of Ava," Mike said, tipping a handful of treats into the cat bowl and placing it on the floor. He scratched Cheetah's neck and turned back to Emily. "Where is she?"

"Last I saw of her, she was heading outside with Antonio's laptop," Emily answered. "Jayden's promised her that her training will start tomorrow."

"So why is she outside with the laptop?" Mike asked.

"She's watching Jayden." Emily shrugged. She petted Cheetah and then walked out of the kitchen. Kevin was sat in the living room, reading, while Mia stood at the door opposite watching Mentor and Antonio flip through a book of symbols. The Lightzord was propped up on the table beside them.

Mike frowned as he and Emily joined Mia. "What's going on over here?" he asked.

"I don't know," Mia said, shaking her head. "But it's strange to see those two buddy-buddy."

"Yeah, but what are they doing with the Lightzord?" Mike asked.

Mia and Emily shook their heads. Even Kevin was starting to become distracted from his book and more interested in what was happening with Mentor and Antonio.

"I got to know," said Mike, pushing his way through the two girls. "Hey, guys, what's up?" he said, loudly, but was quickly shushed by Mentor. Mike frowned, before looking down at the box of cat treats that he had, for some reason, brought from the kitchen; he grinned as Antonio emptied his bowl of trail mix.

Picking up the bowl, Mike filled the bowl with treats, and placed it back on the table. Antonio, none the wiser, reached for the bowl and stuffed a handful of teats into his mouth.

Mike scoffed and glanced back at Mia and Emily, both of whom were failing to conceal their laughter.

"Antonio, I think we should go fishing now," said Mentor, stopping the gold Ranger from taking another handful of treats.

"Great," Antonio smiled. "Sure could use a break."

Mike turned quickly and walked away, realizing he had been caught and was about to be punished.

"Mike," Mentor called out, stopping him. He held up the bowl. "Have some."

"I... uh..." Mike hesitated.

Mentor lightly shook the bowl. "C'mon, Mike," he said.

With a sigh, Mike took two treats and put them in his mouth, crunching them pitifully. He smiled, half-heartedly at Mentor who nodded and turned back to the Lightzord.

Mike sighed and returned to Mia and Emily, both of whom were still laughing.

**~*The Rescue*~**

Jayden sighed as he glanced sideways at Ava. She was sat on the porch, her legs crossed and Antonio's laptop in her lap. She was giggling at something on the screen and could only assume that she was watching cartoons or videos on the internet.

He had invited her outside to watch him train, but had then remembered that she had admitted to watching him train her whole life, and just because she watched him didn't mean that she remembered his every move or his technique, if she had been able to do that then she wouldn't have had any trouble when it came to fighting.

But now he was starting to wish that he had invited her to join him in training. He knew that he could lower himself to her standards, long enough of her to get the basics and then work with her through the rest of the levels, he really didn't need the others, but they had insisted on helping. It had been their own way to show Ava that she wasn't alone in her training.

Jayden raised the training sword, but lowered it again as Ava giggled at something he couldn't see. He closed his eyes and shook his head. While he loved hearing her laugh, it was better than hearing her doubt herself; he was actually trying to concentrate and was finding it very difficult.

After another giggle - or two - Jayden finally caved and approached the white Ranger. He leaned forward and pushed the lid of the laptop down.

"Hey," Ava pouted, taking off her headphones and looking up. "I was watching that."

"Sorry, but I am trying to concentrate," said Jayden.

"You invited me out here," Ava shrugged.

"To watch and learn."

"I've done that for years," Ava said, "it's never stuck."

Jayden paused and look to the training sword in his hand. "Practice makes perfect!" he muttered, before quickly grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet. Ava whined as he pulled her over to the training dummy, she tensed as she saw that he had dressed it up like Serrator. "It's OK," Jayden assured her, squeezing her shoulders. "He can't hurt you."

He jabbed the dummy with the point of the sword.

"See? Harmless."

Ava sighed and started to relax.

"OK," said Jayden, putting the training sword in her hand. He then took her free hand and wrapped it around the rest of the sword. He then placed her hands over his and raised the sword to the shoulders and head of the dummy. "Left... right..." he muttered in her ear, causing her to shiver. "Left... right..."

"I know my rights from my left, Jayden," said Ava.

Jayden chuckled. "Light taps," he answered, realizing he hadn't exactly told her what he wanted her to do. "Just light taps on each shoulder."

"Can I at least have my headphones on?"

"Why?"

"Because they block out surround sound," Ava answered. "It makes me feel like i'm alone..."

"I think that might be part of your problem," said Jayden. "Try it without headphones, and then, if you're really, truly stuck, we'll try it with headphones. Just no pretending to be paralyzed with fear because I assure you, we're the only ones out here."

Ava sighed and lifted the training sword. "OK," she nodded. "I believe you."

**~*The Rescue*~**

With Mentor and Antonio on their way to a quieter location, Mike, Emily, Kevin and Mia had decided to come looking for Jayden and Ava. They half-expected to find the white Ranger sitting on the porch watching Cartoons, and not standing in front of a Serrator training dummy with Jayden's arms around her as she whacked hell out of the dummy.

The four rangers exchanged looks and retraced their steps to the common room.

"When did that happen?" Mike asked, utterly bewildered at what he had just witnessed. He had known for a while that there was something more than just a platonic friendship between Jayden and Ava; it was because of this 'relationship' - for the lack of a better word - why Ava had run away. It was how she had met Luke, which led to him knowing their secret.

"I don't know," Mia shrugged. "Has Ava said anything to you, Em?"

"Why would she?" Emily asked.

"Because you're her best friend," said Kevin, pointedly.

Emily shook her head. "Ava hasn't said a word to me about Jayden," she said. "And just because we're best friends doesn't mean she tells me everything."

The other three offered her looks. A clear statement that they didn't believe that.

"Well, what does it matter?" Emily asked. "We all knew that they would eventually end up together; I mean, this was the reason Ava broke up with Luke, wasn't it? So she could pursue a relationship with Jayden?"

"She's got a point," Mia nodded. Ava had told her and Emily the true reason behind why she and Luke had mutually agreed to break up. They had agreed that they would remain friends, but that didn't mean Luke didn't love Ava any less. "Besides, Jayden and Ava have chemistry of being more than friends; it was bound to happen eventually."

"I wonder what Mentor or Antonio have to say about the situation?" Mike suggested.

Kevin shook his head. "If we didn't know," he said, "I don't think they do - don't go getting any ideas, Mike."

"What?" Mike asked, offended.

"Jayden and Ava obviously haven't told us for a reason," said Kevin, "don't go teasing them about it or telling Antonio and Mentor about this; it's Jayden and Ava's business, let them work out the best time to tell us."

"And what do we do when they do tell us?" Mike asked.

Mia rolled her eyes and punched his shoulder. "Act surprised," she answered.

"But happy," Emily added, quickly. "Surprised, but happy."

Kevin nodded as Mike grumbled. He had wanted to have a bit of fun with the new ranger couple, but he figured given the circumstances with Ava and her fighting skills, he'd lay off on the teasing... at least for now.

**~*The Rescue*~**

"You're a bully when you get going," said Jayden, pulling Ava away from the dummy. "Poor thing never stood a chance."

"Hey, you put a weapon in my hand and told me to start hitting." Ava defended.

"Correction," Jayden argued. "I said light taps."

"There's a difference?" Ava asked, cocking her head to the side.

Jayden groaned at how cute and innocent she looked, but she still had the training sword in her hands. If she could beat up a dummy, then he'd hate to see what she'd do to him. She wasn't afraid of him, not like she had been Serrator. "A big difference," he nodded. "You don't cause much pain with light tapping."

"So, if I did this to you," said Ava, tapping his leg with the training sword, "I'd get away with it?"

"Since we're not training," Jayden said, as she tapped him again. "It would be unfair conduct."

Ava blinked and smiled. She rotated slowly back and forth, tapping the training sword more and more against Jayden's leg.

_Thump._

_Thump._

_Thump._

Jayden stared at his girlfriend for a short while. His leg was starting to feel numb, but without a weapon he had no chance of defending himself if he attempted to take her sword from her. "Stop it," he said.

_Thump._

_Thump_

_Thump._

"Ava, stop it," Jayden repeated.

Ava stopped rotating and dropped the sword to the floor. "Now what?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips and looking around. She was no officially bored. Jayden had taken Antonio's laptop off of her, they had finished beating up the Serrator dummy, and now he had stopped her from tapping him. "How am I supposed to learn if I don't have some dummy to beat up - oh..."

"So now I'm a dummy?" Jayden asked, stepping closer.

Ava giggled and stepped backwards. "Well, you know -" she shrugged. She spied the open door to the house and judged the distance between her current position and it. Could she make it? If she could then she could take refuge with the others.

"I know what you're thinking," said Jayden.

"Oh yeah?" Ava asked. "What am I thinking?"

"That you can get to the door before I can get to you."

Ava grinned wickedly. "Well, let's test my speed against your agility," she challenged. "Three... Two..."

"ONE!" Jayden said, lunging for her.

Ava squealed and danced out of his reach. She giggled, jumped over the bench and sped towards the front door. She was no less than a few meters' from it when Jayden's arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her back from its safety. "You cheated!" she laughed.

"How could I cheat?" Jayden chuckled, dropping her back to her feet and turning her to face him. He kept his arms around her waist and rested his forehead against hers. "You know, if you were like that in battle the Nighlok wouldn't be able to touch you." He said.

"Did you just give me permission to run away?" Ava asked.

But before Jayden could answer the gap sensor interrupted them, and the sound of the other's footsteps thundering from inside the house forced the couple apart.

"Ready for some on the job training?" Kevin asked Ava.

The white Ranger looked hesitant. "Do you have much of a choice?" she asked.

"You'll be fine," Mike promised, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"C'mon," Jayden said. "We'll call Antonio on the way."

The others nodded and followed him through the gate.

**~*The Rescue*~**

Reaching the area that the map had identified as the source of the disturbance, the rangers were more than surprised to find it empty.

"So where's the big, bad and the ugly?" Mike asked, grounding to a halt.

Mia shook her head as she too stopped running. She turned to Kevin who stopped a few feet away and shrugged, opening her arms in a 'what-gives' gesture. There was no Nighlok for miles, so why had the alarm gone off back home?

"Hey, look," Emily shouted, "over there!"

She was pointing at Antonio's fishing cart. It had been left abandoned in the middle of nowhere, with the Lightzord, which lay on the ground a few feet away.

"The Lightzord!" said Mike, quickly picking it up.

Emily reached Antonio's fish cart and opened the lid. The Clawzord and Octozord crawled out. The Clawzord snapped it's pincers at the Rangers, as the Octozord flew around them and then landed on top of Ava's head.

"Mentor... Antonio..." Mike sighed, looking around for any signs of a struggle. He couldn't see any, but that didn't give much answers to what had happened.

"They would never leave us behind," said Mia.

"Someone must have ambushed them," said, Kevin, thinking fast.

"I think your right," Jayden agreed.

Mike sighed as he looked over the Lightzord. "Oh man," he murmured. "This is all my fault. They wouldn't have come here if I hadn't been messing around."

"Finally figured that out, huh?" Kevin asked.

Fighting back the tears, Ava rounded on the blue and green Rangers. "Stop it!" she snapped, taking everyone by surprise. "You're not helping anyone by arguing with each other. All that matters is finding Daddy and Antonio."

"What was he doing with this thing anyway?" Mike asked. He still blamed himself for Antonio and Mentor's disappearance.

"Hey, everybody," Kevin shouted. He had wandered away from the group, still searching for clues, and he may have found the biggest clue of all. As the others joined him he held up a familiar looking spool.

"That's Antonio's," said Ava.

Kevin nodded. "And it leads in that way," he nodded his head in the direction of the trail. The team exchanged looks, but Ava was the first to react. She didn't know what to expect at the end of the line, but all she knew was that her father and twin brother needed help, she wasn't about to stand around and keep them waiting any longer than necessary.

**~*The Rescue*~**

Still following the spool line, the Rangers stopped at the top of a set of stone steps. The line led down into the underground construction site, but that didn't mean all Rangers were happy with the situation. Ava, who was acting without thinking, started down the steps, before anyone could stop her, she was half way to the bottom when Mike had to race down and stop her from entering the tunnels alone.

"We're not you're scared, Av," the green Ranger said, pulling her back up the steps to where the others were standing. "But running into this blind is not going to do anything to help Mentor and Antonio. It's just going to get you hurt."

"But we're wasting time," Ava protested. "Daddy and Antonio could be hurt for all we know!"

"They'll be fine," Jayden tried to reassure her. "They're strong people."

Ava huffed and turned away, folding her arms to emphasize her annoyance.

Mia, on the other hand, was looking nervously at the tunnel. She wasn't claustrophobic - like Mike - but she didn't enjoy the creepy side of the situation. "Of course it leads to a creepy tunnel," she said, voicing her opinions.

"They must have taken them down there," said Jayden, pointing out the obvious. Of course Antonio and Mentor had come this way; the spool wouldn't have been here unless they hadn't been through the tunnel. "Get ready. We're going in."

The others nodded and fell into formation beside him.

"Go, Go, Samurai!"

**~*The Rescue*~**

Antonio struggled relentlessly against the binds that tied him and Mentor to the pole. "What do you want from us, Nighlok?" he shouted as Eyescar walked past him.

"Ah! I got what I want," said Eyescar. "The two of you!"

"Why us?" Antonio asked.

"You're the catch of the day," Eyescar laughed. "You're the bait I'm going to use to lure the rest of your colour-coded friends. Here," he turned back and waved Antonio's morpher tauntingly in front of him, "wouldn't you like to give them a call?"

Antonio struggled all the more now that his morpher was within sight.

"Too bad for you," Eyescar growled, putting the morpher away. "They'll come for you from the only entrance to this valley; right there -" he pointed to a cliff top a few hundred feet away, "and when they do my Mooger army will be waiting with open arms."

Antonio sighed as Eyescar walked away; if he could get untied then he could get his morpher and warn the others that they were walking into a trap. But his hands were bound behind his back and the ropes so tight that it was cutting into his skin.

"Don't worry," Mentor told him. "We have to have faith that the team will find us."

"We don't need faith," said Antonio. "Remember my fishing spool? I accidentally dropped. I wonder if someone named Jayden or Ava will find it?"

On the other side of the pole, Mentor smirked and nodded. "This time you've surprised even me, Antonio."

**~*The Rescue*~**

Having followed Jayden down the steps and into the underground tunnel, Kevin looked around, peering into the darkness for any signs of movement. He sighed when he realized all he could see was the basic blackness of the shadows. "It's too dark in here to see," he said to the others.

"Ha, I can fix that," said Mike, holding up the Lightzord. He hit the side of it with his fist and the lamp flared to life.

"Thanks, Mike," Jayden nodded, kneeling down and picking up the thin green string of Antonio's spool. "Hmm. The trail leads this way," he said nodding in the direction they were facing.

"Am I glad that I'm not afraid of the dark," said Emily, as she walked alongside Ava. "What about you, Av?"

"I'm not afraid of the dark," said Ava, with a shake of her head. "Just what's _in_ the dark."

"Well, I for one," said Mia, "have got a bad feeling about this."

Emily nodded. "It is way beyond creepy," she agreed.

Suddenly, Jayden stopped walking, causing Ava to crash into the back of him. She had been more preoccupied with looking around for any signs of an ambush or attack that she hadn't been concentrating on the others in front of her.

"Jayden, what's wrong?" she asked, after apologizing for walking into him.

"It's the end of the line," said Jayden, picking up the other send of the fishing spool. "Literally."

Ava sighed and took the object from him. "Great," she grumbled. "Now what do we do?"

"Be on guard," Kevin instructed, "that goes -" he broke off as thousands upon thousands of roars echoed from all over the underground tunnel. By the sounds of things it was like a hundred thousand Moogers had been packed into one small space, but the Rangers knew that was impossible and then, from out of nowhere, came the small army of fish-faced foot soldiers.

"Man," Mike gasped, "talk about a lot of Moogers!"

"Be careful," Jayden instructed. "Watch each other's backs - Ava, stick close!"

The white Ranger nodded and jumped over Moogers sword as she melted through the sea of fish faces after Jayden. The red Ranger had disappeared into the thick of things, slashing and cutting down foot soldiers as he went; Ava landed in the centerfold of the creatures, and slashed in a circle with her spin sword, before Jayden joined her.

"So you can take on Moogers," he said, "but not Serrator?"

"Moogers don't pose much of a threat," Ava answered. "I'm not afraid of them!"

"Well, I have another theory," said Jayden.

"Oh, yeah?" Ava asked, "what's that?"

"Your fear for Mentor and Antonio is what's fueling you alone," Jayden explained.

Ava frowned. "You've lost me," she said, blocking three Mooger swords, and allowing Jayden to cut down the Moogers that they belonged too.

"Remember how Mentor used to tell us that our powers come from our emotions?" Jayden asked. Ava nodded. "Well, you seem to register better when you're in distress. Your fear may not be the problem, Av, it may be the solution."

"Still lost," Ava said, jumping over a sword. She planted a double kick into the chest of an unsuspecting Mooger and knocked him aside. "Hey, check out the Lightzord," she giggled, "it's flying around all on its own!"

The Lightzord zoomed past the white and red Rangers, taking out as many Moogers as it could, before one of the fish faces kicked it in an attempt to strike Mia from behind.

"Oh no," Mike moaned. "Lightie got drop-kicked."

Kevin rushed forward and blocked the Moogers kick, by shoving him away from Mia.

"Thanks," Mia nodded.

"No problem," Kevin said, returning to fighting. He and Mia fought back-to-back for a few minutes, before they were joined by Emily.

"We keep cutting them down," said Emily, "but there's no end to them."

"If I could just take out these fish-faces," shouted Mike, "I have a feeling the Lightzord could help us."

Mia rushed forward, slashing across the back of the Moogers that had pinned Mike to the wall. "Don't worry," she said, "I got their backs. OK, Mike, time to make your move."

"You got it!" Mike nodded, ducking and dodging around the Moogers that tried to prevent him from getting to the Lightzord. "Pardon me," he said, kicking and shoving Moogers aside. "Excuse me... coming through! Got it!" he grinned, cutting down a Mooger and picking up the Zord. "Hey, I think there's something stuck inside."

"The hit it!" Jayden and Ava shouted.

Mike nodded and rammed his sword into the butt of the Zord. A deep red coloured disk flew out of the Lightzord, skimmed through the Moogers and secured its place onto the end of Jayden's spin sword.

"Nice," Jayden grinned, "Shark attack mode!"

He grabbed Ava and pulled her behind him, as he spun in a circle, destroying each of the Moogers with a blaze of fiery flames. As the flames died down, Ava grinned as a new jacket appeared over Jayden; it was similar to that of the Super Samurai upgrade, only this time it was a deep red with white shoulder pads; even Jayden's sword had changed form.

"Wow," Ava breathed. "You look amazing!"

"Antonio did it," Jayden said. "Now we can unleash the shark disk powers whenever we want."

Ava smiled beneath her helmet. "There's only one thing I want desperately right now," she said, grabbing Jayden's arm, "and that's to find Antonio and Daddy."

Jayden nodded and stepped around her. He wielded his new Shark sword and destroyed the Moogers that had come back for more. Jayden knew that he had to find Antonio and Mentor, but with Ava behind him, his team still fighting, and a small army of Moogers blocking their path, he had to do everything he could to protect them.

"When you mess with my friends," he said, "you swim in dangerous water." He spun the sword over his head, and threw it towards the rest of his team; the blade extended, further than anyone had every expected, as the red and blue shark skimmed between the rangers, tagging each of the Moogers and causing them to explode.

With the Moogers destroyed, the Rangers regrouped.

"Now, let's go find the guys," said Mike, leading the way out.

Jayden turned to Ava, who had waited behind. He smiled beneath his helmet had took her hand. "C'mon," he said. "Let's roll."

Ava giggled. "That _so_ didn't suit you," she said, running off.

Jayden smiled and shook his head as he followed her.

**~*The Rescue*~**

Mentor sighed. The sun had reached its highest peak in the sky and was bearing down considerably hot onto him and Antonio; the Moogers and Eyescar didn't seem that much affected by the blazing heat, but it had been a long time since he had had breakfast, and the only thing he wanted now was a drink. Dehydration was one of the worst things to suffer from, especially in a situation as the one he was in right now.

But, despite feeling dehydrated, he still hadn't given up hope that his Rangers were out there somewhere; they would have been searching for him and Antonio by now, that was a fact, they had been gone way to long for the Rangers not to notice there was something wrong, he couldn't help but feel a little impatient.

"You know," said Mentor, trying to glimpse Antonio from the corner of his eye. He needed to do something that would take his mind off of his dying thirst, besides he and the gold Ranger hadn't spoken in a while and there was something that he needed to get off his chest, "When you first came back, I thought you were trouble. As children, you, Ava and Jayden were inseparable, and that distracted them from their training."

Antonio grinned. "We did have some fun," he agreed. "I hated it when I had to move away. I missed them so much. I mean, I made new friends, but none of them compared to Ava and Jayden; I just couldn't wait to come home to them."

Ji smiled, "I'm glad to say that I was wrong."

Antonio blinked. "You are?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes," Ji nodded. "You deserve your spot on the team. You truly are worth your weight in..." he scoffed and shook his head, realizing, seconds before he had spoken, he was going to make a 'gold' joke.

Antonio grinned. "In gold..."

Ji chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, sure."

There was a brief silence between the two. "Hey, if we don't make it out of this," he said, trying to glimpse Mentor a bit more, it was tough, especially with the ropes that were around his neck, "thank you for putting up with me and, you know, believing in me."

Ji smiled and turned rested his head back against the pole. He had said what he had wanted to say, there was nothing else left to be said. What he had told Antonio had been the truth, he had been nervous when the fisherman had returned to Paranoma, fearful that he'd distract Jayden and Ava again from their training, but what he had seen had surprised him. Antonio was more serious this time round, and even encouraged Ava and Jayden when they seemed like giving up.

**~*The Rescue*~**

Mike sighed as he led the others out of the tunnels and onto the ledge overlooking the valley; there were a hundred to one Moogers blocking their path and, in the dead centre of the swarm, was Antonio and Mentor tied to a pole. "Didn't we already fill our quota for the day?" he asked.

"Their forces seem more focused across the valley," said Kevin, noticing that none of the Moogers had noticed them - they weren't even looking in their direction.

"You're right," Jayden nodded, "they're expecting us from along the valley."

"Sure, but if we charge down there," said Emily, nervously, "we're still be outnumbered 100 to 1."

"I'd say the odds were in our favour," said Mia, "I mean, they haven't even noticed us yet."

Ava grinned, thinking along the same lines as her pink sister. "Mia's right," she nodded, "we've still got the element of surprise."

"True," Jayden nodded. "Thankfully, I have the perfect idea for a situation like this." He pulled out the Black Box and gave it to Ava. "Here."

"Why are you giving it to me?" she asked.

"I need you to distract to distract the Moogers," said Jayden, "while the rest of us get Antonio and Mentor to safety."

Ava pouted. "Why have I got to be the distraction?" she asked.

"Because you do distracting so well." Jayden teased.

"Thank your lucky stars that I love you," Ava retorted, taking the Black Box in hand. "Because there are almost a million to one feeling that I could feel for you right now."

Jayden smirked and kissed the side of her head. "Well then I guess it is lucky that you love me," he said. "I love me too."

Ava stuck her tongue out at him and reached for her Samuraizer. "Big head," she muttered, turning away.

"What?" Jayden asked, feigning deaf.

Ava giggled into the back of her hand as she held up her morpher, tracing the symbol for snow in mid-air. "Go, Go Samurai! Super Samurai Mode!"

Emily, Mia, Mike, Kevin and Jayden smirked as they exchanged looks. For someone who was insecure of her fighting skills and absolutely terrified of screwing up while in battle, right now Ava was a woman on a mission.

**~*The Rescue*~**

"Your pathetic buddies will be coming through that pass any minute now," Eyescar said, grabbing Antonio roughly by the collar of his shirt. "And you get to watch them fry."

He shoved the gold Ranger into the pole, causing Antonio to groan and slide sideways.

Mentor gave a start and glanced back at his daughter's brother. "Antonio!" he said, struggling against his rope, if Antonio's groans were anything to go by the gold Ranger was in serious pain. "We will make it through this."

"Even in defeat," Eyescar laughed, "they are delusional."

Suddenly, a loud whooshing sound burst through the air. Antonio blinked and raised his head from the ground.

"Not delusional," said Mentor, glancing back at Eyescar, "I just got a hunch!"

"Huh?" Eyescar muttered, looking up. "What's the noise?"

There was a massive object flying towards him.

"Heads up, Nighlok," Ava called from the Samurai Battlewing. She pushed forward on her controls and shots were fired and several Moogers went down at once, the one thing that Eyescar noticed was that the attacks were being strategically fired at the outside of his Mooger army.

"Impossible!" Eyescar growled, shaking his fist at the Samurai Battlewing.

"Think again, Nighlok," Ava grinned. "Nothing's impossible with the Black Box. I can even pilot the Samurai Battlewing all by myself. Now you have something we want, and we're here to take it back!"

"Never!"

Ava smirked and shrugged. "Never's a long time!" she said, swooping back around and firing several more lasers at the Mooger army. There was an ultimate explosion, one that caught Eyescar off guard and blasted him backwards in to the valley wall, while the rest of the Mooger army were destroyed.

"I can't believe they avoided my trap," Eyescar grumbled as he made it back to his feet. He shook his head and looked around for the rest of the multi-colored annoyances.

"Well believe it, dude," said Mike. He had jumped down from the valley wall and landed behind the Nighlok, he swung his Forest Spear over his arms and pointed it at Eyescar. "Green ranger, ready."

"Here you guys," said Mia, reaching Antonio and Mentor first. "You're free."

The two nodded and released themselves from their binds, while the pink Ranger returned her attention to the Nighlok. "Pink ranger," she said, lifting her sword up and holding it over her shoulder, "ready."

"What?" Eyescar growled, looking from Mike to Mia.

"Blue ranger, ready," said Kevin, straightening up and leveling Eyescar with his Hydro Bow. He fired off a single round, one that hit Eyescar's hand and caused him to toss Antonio's morpher into the air.

Emily jumped over Eyescar and grabbed it, landing on her feet behind him. She turned and pointed her spin sword at the Nighlok. "Yellow ranger, ready - catch!" she added, tossing the morpher to Antonio.

"Gold Power!" Antonio said, morphing into his Ranger form. "Thanks for having my back, guys. Gold ranger, ready!"

Eyescar howled with anger. "How in the world did you rangers figure out my trap?" he yelled, turning to run away. He stumbled to a halt as red and blue shark appeared in his line of vision.

"Not so fast," said Jayden. "Red ranger, ready."

The Samurai Battlewing screeched as it swooped in overhead, depositing the seventh and final ranger onto the battle. Ava landed beside Jayden and shouldered her spin sword. "And White ranger, ready," she nodded.

"Rangers together! Samurai forever!" the seven rangers declared.

"Rangers to the left of me," Eyescar growled. "Rangers to the right of me, I can't believe my eye!"

"Who's getting the last laugh now, Nighlok?" Antonio asked, readying his Barracuda Blade.

Eyescar cackled, leering at Antonio.

"Your plan didn't work," said Jayden. "And now it's gonna come back to bite you."

"You make me _splitting_ mad!" Eyescar spun around and blasted purple sludge at Jayden. The attack was deflected as Ava dived in front of him and cut through the tar with her super spin sword. Her previous conversation with Jayden, about her fears being the solution to her fighting problem, surfaced in her mind; she shook it away as she concluded her need to protect Jayden wasn't out of fear.

Eyescar cackled at the sight of her. He had heard stories about her from other Nighlok, about how she cared too much for her team and how they were all super protective of her, it was through her that he had formulated the plan to use the team's defenses against them; he had known, for a long time, that if he targeted a member of the Ranger team then the others would come to the rescue. His initial target had been the white Ranger, but Octoroo had warned him that she was too heavily protected and he should have gone for an easier target, which was why he had attacked the gold Ranger and their Mentor.

"I'm not afraid of you, Nighlok," Ava said, correctly guessing that the story of how she had frozen against Serrator had spread rapidly through the Netherworld. She had no clue how Nighlok were able to carry news, but she, and the other rangers, had a feeling that Serrator would have reported the incident to Xandred and Octoroo, both of whom would remember to inform every and any Nighlok minion that made it onto their ship.

"Usually those who say they _aren't_ afraid," Eyescar taunted her, "are the ones who are the most _terrified_."

"When someone targets my family things get personal," Ava growled, "and the last thing that stands in the way is fear - I am afraid," she shook her head, "but now of you!"

Eyescar laughed again. "You will be," he cackled. "You all will be!"

"Let's finish this!" said Jayden, taking a stand in front of his girlfriend.

As Mentor watched from the sidelines; he smiled as he watched his daughter take on Eyescar alongside Antonio.

He was proud of her.

**~*The Rescue*~**

After the Megazord battle, Ava had ejected herself from the Samurai Megazord and rushed into her father's arms, demorphing as they wrapped tightly around her shoulders. The others followed her descent, demorphing as they too made their way towards their Mentor.

"Hey, where's my hug?" Antonio pouted. "I was taken too."

Ava tried her hardest to conceal a grin as she hugged her father tighter. Mentor chuckled and kissed the top of her head and then looked up at Antonio. "Daddy's more important," he shrugged.

The team laughed as Antonio sulked. "That's you're last, Ava," he threatened teasingly. Everyone knew that Antonio could never say no to Ava, she wasn't the _Little Samurai_ for nothing; she was, as Jayden, had already pointed out, the heart of the team and each and every one of them found it difficult to tell her 'no' at times.

Jayden smiled and patted Antonio on the shoulder. "We're glad you're OK," he said. "Both of you," he added turning to his godfather.

"Yes," Mentor nodded. "Against impossible odds, you got the job done. You saved us. And I, for one, will be eternally grateful."

"That makes the two of us," Antonio nodded.

"Three," Ava corrected. "I'm eternally grateful, too, and I wasn't the one taken."

The team beamed as Mentor hugged Ava strongly. "I'm proud of you," he told her. "You admitted you were scared but you still stood your ground."

"Thanks," Ava smiled. "I meant what I said," she added, "when my family is targeted, things get personal and not even fear can stand in the way."

"This is what I meant by fear being the solution, Av," said Jayden. "Fear isn't your weakness; you just _think_ that it is. Fear may actually be the strength you need to fight Serrator and Xandred when the time comes."

Ava frowned. "I'm still confused," she admitted. "How can being scared make me stronger? Fear is a weakness."

"Not always," said Mentor. "Fear appears to be a weakness since it makes us become apprehensive, vulnerable and weak. But fear is a powerful emotion, a motivation that can be used to bring out the best in people, and because fear is such an intense emotional motivation, it is often used as a tool to motivate people, and hence it is in fact strength."

Ava bit her lip, lost in thought. "If it is strength then why did I shut down when we met Serrator?" she asked. "If I was so scared why didn't I fight back?"

"I, for one," said Jayden, "don't think you were afraid of Serrator."

"What?" Ava asked. "But you saw -"

"Av, you froze _after_ he said he was going to test us," Jayden replied. "I believe you were afraid to _fail_ - not fight - if Serrator had attacked us all personally, you wouldn't have had any trouble against him, but because he was there to test our strengths and weaknesses, you froze up."

Ava shook her head. "So what are you saying?" she asked. "That I don't fear fighting, but rather failing?"

"Maybe," Jayden nodded. "If you can get it into your head that Serrator is a threat to you _personally_, he won't be able to touch you; you'd be too strong for him."

"What if I freeze up again?" Ava asked. "What happens if i'm not strong enough to face my fears?"

"You proved today that you can be strong in the face of real fear, you just have to tap into that fear again in order to defeat Serrator. Can you do that?"

Ava looked thoughtful. "What if I fail?" she asked.

"You won't fail," Kevin promised.

"How can you be so sure?" Ava asked.

"Because we'll be there to make sure you succeed," Kevin promised. "Rangers together, right?"

Ava considered her friends for a moment, each of them look determined to help her overcome her fear of Serrator. The mere thought of them rallying around her made her smile. She nodded at Kevin, and held out her hand. The others smiled and rested their hands on top of hers.

"Rangers together," the team of seven chanted, "Samurai forever!"

* * *

**Copyrighted ©**

**A/N:** I literally have two folders (each at 9,000 words) to finish by the end of next week, therefore, this will be the final update until April 18th, 2013. The next chapter is **The Clash of the Red Rangers**, and I have a surprise in store for you all.

**Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx**

**Chapter updated Sunday, April 07th, 2013 at 01:29am**


	6. Chapter 6: Samurai Meet RPM

**Author's Note:** Here is the very much anticipated Samurai/RPM team-up - with the little added surprise that I promised. Also, this story may affect a re-write of another story I am planning, trust me, you will know which one I am talking about when you get to the end of this chapter.

**Dedications:** Big thank you to the following: **Sasha12E, I love Kyo Sohma forever, Krazykriss, RisingPhoenix89, BlueGem22** and** Mynameiskat-13** for adding this story and/or me to their alerts. Very much appreciated.

**Chapter Six: Samurai meet RPM**

I don't own Power Rangers Super Samurai. But I do own any original characters that are of my own creation.

* * *

**Title:** The Legend of the White Samurai

**Summary: **Follows The Little Samurai. In order to finish the battle against the evil Master Xandred, Ava must finally learn the secret that her family has kept from her for generations. Will she fully understand the true meaning behind her Samurai destiny before it is too late?

* * *

**In another dimension, where robots are threatening humanity, the RPM Rangers are the last hope to protect their world against evil.**

"OK, Professor Cog," said Ranger red, or Scott Truman has he was better known to his friends. "Three paces. Then the duel begins."

"No cheating, Red." Professor Cog said, as he stood back-to-back with the High Octane Megazord.

Scott rolled his eyes and looked down at his control panel. Even though they were not with him inside the cockpit, he could still sense and feel his team-mates; they were waiting for him back at the base, probably trying to restrain Demi and keep her from running out here after him.

"One... Two... Three... NOW!"

Scott threw his weight into the controllers and turned the Megazord around. He fired his blasters the second they became level with Professor Cog, and annulling the robot's own attack against him.

Cog groaned as he fell to one knee, his blaster hitting the floor with a resounding bang. "No, I'm down," he said, tilting forward. Quickly he raised his foot and slammed it down in front of him, pushing himself back into a kneeling position, "but I'm not out!" he chuckled.

"What? I know I hit him!" Scott said, clenching his hands into fists. There were several bright lights, and a round of laser bullets hit the exterior of the Megazord. Scott cried out as, with an earth shattering crash, he toppled over sideways.

"Thanks for not cheating, human," said Professor Cog as he made it back to his feet. "But you should've known that I'd never make that promise. All you hit was my magnet shield." He reached behind the cog that Scott had hit and pulled out a large coin-shaped device. "Time for me to go. Ta-ta."

"You can't escape me." Scott yelled. "I'll track you down."

"Even to another dimension?" Professor Cog asked, disappearing into the misty atmosphere. "I'm off to make a deal to destroy two worlds." He laughed and turned away, disappearing completely as a dust cloud blew around him.

Scott punched his controls. "I'll find you, Cog!" he shouted. "Even if it's the last thing I do!"

"_Well, that's a stupid thing to promise."_

Scott sighed and looked down at his flickering controls. "Demi?" he said, fiddling around with the controls. The picture flickered again before settling down and reflecting a picture of a pretty blonde back at him. Demi Landsdown, younger sister to Summer and the white Ranger on his team, smiled back at him.

"_Dillon, you owe me an ice-cream!_" Demi shouted, turning to glance over her shoulder.

Scott chuckled as he heard Dillon, the black RPM Ranger, groan off screen. "Betting on me again, Dem?" he asked.

"_What do you expect us to do?"_ Demi asked. "_You're the one who is insistent on fighting Professor Cog all on your lonesome. We need __**some**__ entertainment. Besides, you should be thanking me... or at least thanking the RPM gods - which we both know are Dr. K and Michael - because if you had bitten the dust Dillon wanted your car._"

"Over my dead body."

Demi giggled, and Scott smiled at the sound. "_Technically, baby, it would have been over your dead body as you would've been dead."_ She smiled. "_That reminds me, are you heading back now? I've already got Michael searching for Professor's Cogs energy signature. And you know how fast he works."_

Scott smirked and shook his head. "What would I do without you?" he asked.

"_Crash and burn."_

Scott chuckled and forced the High Octane Megazord back to its feet and nodded. "Prepare the hangers. I'm coming back." He said.

"_Awesome. See you soon."_

**~*Samurai meet RPM*~**

Since there had been very little Nighlok activity over the past few days, Mentor had suggested that the Rangers take the day off to relax and have some fun. Eager to spend as much of his free time with Ava has possible; Jayden had suggested spending the day at Rainbow's End.

At first he thought it might have been awkward, given the last time he and Ava had been there he had pushed her away after confessing that he loved her, but the look of excitement that blazed to life in his girlfriend's eyes when he had mentioned it was enough to convince him that she had crossed that bridge a long time ago.

Now all he really had to worry about was her running off as she tried to decide which ride to go on first.

Ava giggled as all the loud noises of other people screaming, laughing and talking overlapped one another and echoed throughout the park. It was on her and Jayden and the amusement park, the others, who had been offered to join them, had opted to spending time doing their own things. Mike had taken Emily skateboarding, Kevin and Mia had gone to the beach, and Antonio had promised he'd join them after he'd caught enough fish for supper.

"Where too first, Av?" Jayden asked, teasing her as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

"I don't know," Ava said, leaning back into him. "How about the roller-coaster? I've never been on one before."

Jayden closed his eyes as her words hit him harder than expected. He was the reason she hadn't ridden her first roller-coaster with Emily almost a year ago. He tightened his hold on her waist and kissed her shoulder. "Sorry," he said.

"Huh? What for?" Ava asked, glancing back at him.

"For making you miss your first roller-coaster ride." Jayden said.

Ava smiled and shook her head. "Water under the bridge, right?" she asked, turning around and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Besides, I'd rather share my first roller-coaster with you. It keeps up tradition."

"It does?"

"Yep." Ava grinned. "I've shared all my firsts with you. First steps. First word." She stood on her tip-toes and kissed him. "First kiss."

Jayden grinned, goofily, causing Ava to giggle.

"You're weird," she said, through her laughter. "But I still love you."

Jayden grinned and kissed her again, before taking her hand and leading her towards the roller-coaster He had a feeling that Ava'd freak out if she was sat right at the back of the ride, and she'd probably have had a panic attack if she was sat right at the front, so he chose to sit somewhere in the middle.

After riding the coaster twice, Jayden pulled Ava in the direction of stalls. He wanted to get her something to remember their first date and he knew, quite well, of Ava's unhealthy obsession with stuffed animals.

"You want to give a go at knocking down some Moogers, kid?" a vendor asked, as Jayden and Ava grew closer. He was standing with his back to three shelves sliding along which were cardboard cutouts of Moogers. "Horrible creatures, but great entertainment for little kids who like to pretend they're the Samurai rangers."

Ava giggled. "But the Samurai Rangers use swords," she pointed out, eyeing the pellet rifle in the vendor's hands. "Not blasters."

"A sword would defeat the purpose, lass," said the vendor, "besides, I don't think parents would approve if I gave their kid a sword."

"Fair point," Ava nodded, turning to Jayden. "C'mon, you can totally do this! Please! Please! Please!"

Jayden smiled and looked to the vendor. "How many hits?" he asked.

"Three Moogers for a giant stuffed toy," the vendor said, pointing the shelf on the otherside of the stall. Ava's eyes widened as she scanned the shelf for her favourite animal. The vendor had every animal imaginable. Penguins, Dragons, Lions, Turtles, Bears, and Apes.

"Three Moogers?" Jayden asked, smirking to himself. He'd never handled a blaster before, but the look in Ava's eye, as she scanned the prizes, was enough to tell him that he had to win one for her. "No problem."

Jayden fired the air once... twice... three times. Each time he hit a Mooger a light _click_ came from it as it toppled backwards and lay flat on the shelf.

"Winner! WE HAVE A WINNER!" the vendor announced taking the air gun back and turning to the prizes. He smiled as Ava jumped into Jayden's arms, kissed him and hugged him excitedly. He could honestly say that he had seen worst victories. "What'll be it, kids?" he asked.

Jayden scanned the stuffed animals. "The white Lion," he said, while Ava jumped up and down excitedly as the vendor stepped onto a ladder and pulled the 4ft long lion from the top shelf, he handed it to Ava, who squeezed it the second she had it within her reach.

"I shall name him Fireheart!" Ava announced, taking Jayden's hand. "Bye-bye." She added, waving to the vendor as they walked away.

"See ya, lass," the vendor smiled, turning to his next customer.

"Can I ask why you chose the name Fireheart?" Jayden asked.

Ava smiled. "I remember it from the Ranger archives that Daddy had me read the other night," she said. "There was this one team, in Briarwood, California, who had this magical dragon and they named him Fireheart. And I thought it was really cute and I really wanted a Fireheart."

"So why didn't you have the dragon?" Jayden asked, wrapping his arm around her.

"I already have a dragon," Ava smiled. "Besides, now I have my second favourite animal in my favourite colour, and my new favourite memory to go with it." She grinned up at him. "What more could I ask for?"

Jayden smiled and leaned down, pressing his lips against hers in a gentle kiss.

Their Samuraizers' jingled.

Ava and Jayden sighed and broke apart, Jayden opening his phone and raising it to his ear. "Yeah, Mentor?" he said into it. There was a buzz from across the line and Jayden nodded. "OK. Call the others; tell them to meet us there."

"Nighlok attack?" Ava asked, hugging Fireheart.

"Unfortunately," Jayden nodded. "C'mon the others are meeting us there. We'll drop Fireheart off at home on our way."

Ava nodded and, taking Jayden's hand, hurried from the park.

**~*Samurai/RPM*~**

Mike grumbled as he and Emily reached the scene first. "Don't the Nighlok understand the concept of a day off?" he asked, turning to the yellow Ranger.

"I don't think they care," Emily said. "Where are the others?"

"Hey!" Mia called as she and Kevin arrived. "Where are Jayden and Ava?"

"Right here!" Ava shouted, racing towards her friends. "So where's the Nighlok?" she asked, looking around, "according to Daddy this is where the Gap Sensor went off."

Jayden looked over his team with an uneasy look. "We'd better morph, just in case," he suggested, not wanting any harm to come to them. The others nodded and fell into formation around him. "Samuraizer!"

"Go, Go Samurai!"

"Zip, Zip, Zip!"

After she had morphed, Emily looked around as a weird noise reached her senses. "Do you guys hear that?" she asked.

No sooner had she asked the question, did a building explode behind them. Glass and stone showered down from the sky and the force of the explosion blasted the Rangers backwards.

"Zip, Zip, Zip!" the Nighlok said, as he appeared in front of the rangers. He had been spinning so fast that the Rangers hadn't been able to get a good look of him, until now. He was as furry as a bird, but had a jaw of a great white shark.

"He just destroyed that building," said Mia.

"We have to stop this," added Emily.

"Zip, Zip, Zip!" the Nighlok cackled.

"Time for you to zip it, Nighlok," said Jayden, holding out his spin sword.

"Samurai Rangers," the Nighlok growled. "I'm like a force of nature - a twister and a shark bite wrapped in one, and ready for fun."

"Let's go," said Jayden, as Antonio finally arrived.

"Hey, wait for me," the gold Ranger said, running in front of his friends.

"You're late," snapped Jayden.

"This is going to be worth the wait," said Antonio, turning to the Nighlok. "Hey, Shark-jaw, get ready for a barracuda bite." He pulled his sword from its cover and raced towards the Nighlok. He matched the Nighlok hit-for-hit before he hit the ground at his friends' feet.

"Antonio," Ava cried, rushing to her twin's aid, and taking a stand in front of him, between Mia and Emily.

"Spin sword!" the three girls shouted, attaching their power disks to their swords and activating them.

"Air Wave." Mia shouted.

"Earth Cyclone!" Emily yelled.

"Snow Storm!" Ava said.

The three spells collided with the Nighlok, knocking him backwards. He groaned and hit the ground, before rolling back to his feet and growling at the Rangers. "It's time to take you losers for a spin." He said. "Tornado warning!"

He started turning in a full circle, getting faster and faster until he was nothing but a blur, the next thing the rangers knew they were being blown away from one another as the Nighlok zipped through them. Groaning, the rangers barely had time to pick themselves up before the Nighlok was coming back for round two.

"Nighlok!" Mike shouted, jumping to his feet and bringing his sword down onto the spinning monster. There was an explosion of light and Mike was thrown back into his friends; he looked down at his sword to find that it had been sawed down to the halfway point.

Ava sucked in a breath at the damage.

"Now, that's not cool." Mike said, looking at his sword.

"I can beat that," said the Nighlok, as he stopped spinning. "I'm just too good for you."

"Oh, man, we just can't get close enough." Antonio complained.

"Shark's don't stop swimming," the Nighlok told them, "and I won't stop spinning." He started spinning again, much to the Rangers annoyance.

"It's time for me to put my own spin on things," said Antonio, taking a step in front of his friends.

"No, Antonio, he's too quick!" Jayden yelled, but the gold Ranger had already rushed off for meet the Nighlok.

Ava squeezed Jayden's arm as she popped up beside him.

"He won't get past me," Antonio declared, before he was sadly knocked aside. He groaned and demorphed the second he landed, and the Nighlok stopped a few feet short of the other rangers, his skin had already started to turn grey and crack in places.

"Oh, no, I'm drying out." Shark-jaw said, looking at his hands. "You Rangers got lucky. Zip, zip!" he said, as a red glow escaped the gap in the flagstones beneath his feet and he disappeared down into the Netherworld.

Ava sighed and demorphed along with others. "How are we supposed to stop him if we can't get near him?" she asked, hurrying over to where Antonio had fallen and helping him back to his feet.

"We'll figure out a way," said Jayden, wrapping his arm around Ava as she returned to his side. The others had already figured out that they were a couple now, not to mention Emily and Mia had teased Ava relentlessly about it the night after they had rescued Antonio and Mentor, so what was the point in hiding it anymore?

Ava groaned and buried her face in Jayden's side.

"Another headache?" Kevin asked, noticing the pained expression on Ava's face.

The Little Samurai nodded. It had been almost two weeks since her last headache had occurred, and since she had started to advanced training lessons with the rest of the team, her nightmares had been off too. Ava had found, after her last few training lessons with Mia, she had been too tired to worry about anything, especially her nightmares.

"How about an ice-cream?" Mike suggested. "Make the pain go away?"

Ava giggled at him and nodded. "Sounds like a plan," she agreed. "You're buying!" she added, linking arms with Mia and Emily and walking away.

"What? Hey, no fair!" Mike whined as Kevin, Antonio and Jayden patted him on the shoulder, and followed after the girls. "Oh, c'mon, guys! Guys?"

Emily, Mia and Ava giggled as they glanced back to see Mike running to catch up.

**~*Samurai meet RPM*~**

Demi inspected the map in front of her and turned to her bodyguard, Michael. "Are you sure that's the right place?" she asked.

"I run the tests four times, Dem," Michael nodded. "I'm positive this is where Professor Cog has gone."

"Earth," said Summer Landsdown, she was Demi's older sister and the yellow RPM Ranger. "But we're on Earth."

"Yeah, a Venjix-infected Earth," Michael said. "The Earth that Professor Cog has gone through to has not been infected with a virus. The humans don't live in a dome city. I'm not saying they might not have their own problems, but they most certainly don't have _our_ problems."

Dillon, the black RPM Ranger looked over at the bodyguard. "Can't you run a trace on any monster activity in this dimension?" he asked.

"Already tried," Michael nodded. "The trace keeps coming back error. If there is anything out there, our systems can't pick it up."

"Well, there has to be something there," said Flynn McAllister, the blue RPM Ranger, "or Professor Cog wouldn't have gone there in the first place."

Michael nodded and patted the Scottishman on the shoulder. "Good point, Flynn," he said. "We've established the portal that links our two dimensions crosses paths here -" he pointed at an old abandoned factory on the north side of Corinth. "You have to stop Cog before he can do any damage in either dimension."

"How do you propose we stop him?" Ziggy, the green RPM Ranger, asked. "I mean, it's not like we can follow him through."

Demi looked from Ziggy and then up at Michael. She noticed the look on his face and her eyes widened as she understood his silent thoughts. "Is that safe?" she asked. "We'd be leaving Corinth unprotected."

"It's the only chance we've got, Dem," Michael said. "I'll call Colonel Truman and have him double power the shields after you have passed through the dimension, but make sure you are back before the portal closes or you'll be trapped on the otherside forever."

Ziggy gulped. "Forever?" he squeaked.

Michael nodded.

"How long do we have, Mike?" Summer asked.

"Thirty-six hours," Michael answered. "Give or take."

The RPM team nodded and exchanged looks. Scott, being team leader, sighed and looked down at the map. He knew that he didn't have a choice, he had to go, but he could easily have stopped his team-mates from following him.

"Dismiss that thought," Demi whispered, squeezing his hand. "We're coming with you."

Scott sighed and nodded. "Alright. Let's go, team," he said, leading them from the Garage. They could take their cars to the destination sight, and then continue from there on foot.

"Good luck, Rangers," said Michael as he watched the Fury leave the garage.

**~*Samurai meet RPM*~**

Summer frowned and looked around the train compartment. "This is weird," she said, looking to her friends.

"Weirder than anything else we've seen?" Demi asked, flopping into the seat beside her sister. "C'mon, you live in a domed city, you're famous for saving a dead planet, and you're freaking out over being on the underground - which I guess would be weird for you, Princess -"

"Shut up," Summer said, poking her sister in the ribs.

Demi squealed and jumped away from her sister. "Don't do that!" she cried.

Summer laughed loudly. "There is no Michael here to save you now, Dem," she teased, lunging for her sister again.

Demi squeaked and run for the safety of her friends. She dodged around Ziggy and Flynn, ducked under Dillon's arm, and dived behind Scott. "Dillon, keep your psycho fiancé away from me!" she said, peeking out from behind the red Ranger.

"Hey, she's blood related to you," said Dillon, "Psychosis is heredity; if she has it then you have it."

"I am not crazy!" Demi said, stamping her foot.

Scott rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around Demi, she was closer to Summer than she would have liked, but with Scott's arms around her she felt safer than she would have done out in the open. "You're a little crazy," he teased.

"Only about you." Demi smiled.

"It better be only me." Scott teased.

Demi grinned and turned to kiss him. Summer groaned and turned away, muttering something about too much PDA.

"You're cruel." Scott said, breaking away from the white Ranger.

"It got her to leave," Demi smiled. "Besides, who knows when I'll get to kiss you next? I don't think we'll be able to demorph in this dimension. That's a whole thirty-six hours in our suits."

Scott sighed. "Better make the most of it then," he said.

Demi giggled and kissed him again.

"Hey, guys," Flynn shouted, interrupting the red and white Rangers. "We're almost at the portal site. We should morph now before we pass through."

Demi groaned. "So much for making the most of it," she grumbled.

Scott chuckled. "It'll be over before you know it," he promised. "Just don't go too far when we come back."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Demi said, kissing him once and then turning to the rest of the team that had assembled behind her.

"Everyone ready?" Scott asked, looking around at his team.

"Ready," they nodded, falling into formation.

"RPM, Get in Gear!"

**~*Samurai meet RPM*~**

Emily, Mia and Ava exchanged looks as they walked arm-in-arm with Mike, Kevin, Antonio and Jayden, down the sidewalk. Six out of seven rangers were eating an ice-cream cone while Kevin was munching on carrots he had bought at the store.

"Kev, we beat the Nighlok," Mike laughed. "This is a celebration."

"I am celebrating, Mike," Kevin said.

"Why didn't you get ice cream like the rest of us?" Mike asked.

"Mike, stop picking on him." Emily chided.

Mike grinned and grabbed Kevin's wrist. "But he's eating veggies," he complained.

"I've been feeling a little sluggish lately, Mike," said Kevin, shoving the green Ranger off of him, "so it's back to a strict samurai diet."

"And I thought Jayden was bad," Antonio whispered, leaning closer to Ava. The white Ranger giggled

"What was that?" Jayden asked, turning to his childhood friends as he heard his name being whispered between them.

Ava and Antonio grinned, innocently. "Nothing!" they said, bursting into giggles together.

Jayden rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I think giving these two sugar was a bad idea." He grumbled turning back to the rest of his team.

"Wouldn't you rather have mint chip?" Mike asked, turning to walk backwards so that he could wave his ice-cream in Kevin's face.

Kevin groaned. "No."

Antonio looked up as movement caught his attention. A car had been shoved off of the bridge overhead and was heading for a crash collision with Mike if the green Ranger didn't stop walking. "Mike, look out!" he yelled, grabbing Ava and shielding her from any flying glass pieces.

"Up there!" Mia said, pointing to the bridge where the car had come from.

"Let's go!" Jayden said, leading the team up.

**~*Samurai meet RPM*~**

Construction workers run screaming as purple lasers were shot from every direction by weird robot-looking things. The Samurai rangers, slowed to separate halts as they took in the bizarre sight that awaited them on the bridge.

"Nighlok with lasers?" Emily frowned.

"Those theme punks aren't Nighlok." Mike answered.

"Not making that sound," said Antonio.

"They're machines," said Kevin, "that would explain the sound."

"Either way, we need to stop them." Jayden said, reaching for his Samurai morpher.

The others nodded and followed his lead. "Samuraizer! Go, Go Samurai!"

"Let's see just how tough these robots are." Jayden said, as the second they morphed the robots charged forward.

Kevin jumped backwards as he slashed down with his sword. It refused to leave a mark on any part of the robot that he hit. "These things are tougher than Moogers." He complained, flipping one and kicking another as it snuck up behind him.

"That just means we'll have to kick it up a notch." Mike said, racing through the robots to those at the back. He tossed a metal box into the air and kicked it at the robot, sending it to the ground, but it didn't stay down for long.

"They're all wearing armor." Antonio shouted, as he tried slicing through the robots with his barracuda blade.

Emily shook her head as grasped Ava's hand and flipped over away from the robots; she tugged her best friend towards her and held on tightly as Ava planted a kick into the chest of another robot, knocking it away. "They're not _wearing_ armor..." she corrected.

"... they _are_ armor." Ava finished, using the twin telepathy that she and Emily had somehow managed to create between them.

"Hands off!" Mia snapped, rolling away from the robots. She slashed up and then back down as more and more creatures swarmed over her. "No matter how many hits I land," she said, struggling to maneuver herself around the freaky robots, "these things won't go down!"

"Remember, never give up." Jayden shouted, as he struggled against his own group of robots. He had teamed up with Antonio, just as Emily and Ava had done, but despite being in pairs the robots still refused to fall.

Ava gasped as she felt a breeze rush past her, and the robots sparked and hit the ground. "Huh?" she frowned, spinning around to try and catch a glimpse of the creature - she assumed it was a creature as no human could move faster than the speed of light - that had helped them.

"What the -?" Mia gasped as her own robots sparked and collapsed, followed closely by the ones that surrounded Mike, Kevin, Jayden and Antonio.

Regrouping, the Samurai rangers turned to find the source of the help they had just received.

"You don't think its Shark-jaw, do you?" Antonio asked.

"Why would he help us?" Mike asked.

Antonio shrugged. "I dunno," he said, "he's the only creature we know that can move faster than light itself."

A small giggle echoed from behind the Rangers. They turned quickly to find another white Ranger standing before them. "I've been called a lot of things," she said, "but never Shark-jaw. Oh, and you're welcome by the way."

"You just took out all those robots?" Ava asked, stepping forward. She relinquished her morph and motioned for the others to do the same. She didn't want to intimidate the second ranger. "I'm Avalon, but everyone calls me Ava."

"December," the new white Ranger answered. "But everyone calls me Demi."

Ava smiled.

"How did you manage to take out all those robots?" Mike asked.

"It's a part of my ranger suit," said Demi. "It enhances my abilities and makes me run faster and levitate."

"You can levitate?" Ava asked, looking excited.

Demi nodded. "Yeah, but I usually keep it for battles," she said. "It takes my enemies by surprise when they try to throw me aside and suddenly i'm hovering twenty-feet in the air above them - Oh, wait a minute, I almost forgot!" she turned to look over her shoulder and whistled, "over here, guys!"

Kevin and Jayden exchanged looks.

Emily and Mia gasped as they spotted who Demi was calling. Behind the new white Ranger came another team of Power Rangers.

"Red... Blue... Green..." Ava said, counting the colours as they became level with their white Ranger. "... Yellow... Pin - Black?" she frowned and turned to Mia. "They don't have you."

"Yeah, I noticed." Mia nodded.

Antonio blinked and, reaching forward, he pulled Ava back between him and Jayden. "Does someone feel like telling us how December -"

"Demi," the new white Ranger corrected. "Only my parents and Michael call me December, and that's only when he is _really_ mad at me."

"Which is often," the new yellow Ranger teased.

Demi gasped and turned in her team-mates direction. The Samurai rangers couldn't see her face, but they could guess that she was glaring at her.

The yellow Ranger chuckled and patted the white's helmet. "You know I love you, Dem," she said. "You're my little sister. I have to love you."

"I'm feeling the love." Demi grumbled turning back to the Samurai. "Oh, I just remembered, you haven't been introduced yet! This is Dillon, Ziggy, Flynn, my annoying older sister, Summer, who is engaged to marry Dillon, and my overprotective boyfriend, Scott."

Ava smiled pointed at Antonio. "This is my unbiological older twin brother, Antonio, and by older I mean three years," she said. "My unbiological twin sister, Emily, and sister, Mia, my brothers, Kevin and Mike, unbiological, of course, and _my_ overprotective boyfriend and best friend, Jayden."

Summer smirked. "It must be a white and red thing," she laughed.

"What must?" Demi and Ava asked.

"That you're both white Rangers and you're both dating red Rangers," Flynn answered, understanding where Summer was coming from.

"Oh," Demi and Ava said, with similar light shrugs.

Antonio frowned and looked to the rest of his team-mates. Ava may have been bonding well and truly with the new set of Rangers, but he and the others still had questions that needed answering before they could even attempt to trust the newcomers.

"Does someone want to tell me what's going on?" Jayden asked. "Who are you?"

"Well, we're Power Rangers, just like you," said Scott, wrapping an arm around Demi. "Normally where we come from, we're called by our Ranger colours." He added, poking his girlfriend.

Demi rolled her eyes beneath her helmet. "Dr. K only called us by our Ranger colours because she was afraid of growing attachments. And you know how much I detest being called Ranger White."

"Dr. K?" Mia repeated.

Demi nodded. "She's our Mentor," she explained. "She was the one who gave these four -" she pointed at Scott, Summer, Dillon and Flynn, "their morphers to become Power Rangers."

"What about you and Ziggy?" Ava asked. "How are you Rangers?"

"Because we bonded with the series green and white operators in order to protect them," said Demi. "The only reason we were allowed to keep them was because in order to unbond with them we had to be destroyed."

Emily's eyes widened.

"Dude, that's harsh." Mike commented.

"That's what I said." Ziggy exclaimed.

Demi rolled her eyes and turned back to Antonio. "To answer your previous question," she smiled. "Those robots were called Grinders. You couldn't destroy them because your swords wouldn't work against their armour. Our weapons have been specifically designed to take them out."

"Easy, Demi," said Dillon, "don't give too many secrets away."

"If we're going to work together to take down Professor Cog," said Demi, turning to her future brother-in-law, "then there's got to be no secrets between us. Keeping secrets is no way to build trust."

"I don't know if we can trust you until we can look you in the eyes." Jayden said.

"Uh, not right now," said Scott, tapping his helmet. "We have our reasons."

Kevin frowned and leaned in closer to his team-leader. "Jayden, a lot's been going on today," he said, loud enough for Mike and Antonio to hear. "I don't think we should just trust them."

Mike nodded in agreement.

"You want to tell that to Ava?" Antonio asked, nodding at his sister who was laughing along with Demi. "I think she and Demi are already bonding."

Jayden hesitated and looked to Scott. "Scott, you say you know these... Grinders... can you tell us where they've come from?" he asked.

"They've come from our dimension," said Scott.

"Another dimension?" Mia repeated. "Like parallel world dimension?"

Flynn chuckled. "You could say that." He nodded.

Ava giggled and pointed at you. "You talk pretty." She said.

"Aye, lass," Flynn nodded, "that's because I'm Scottish."

"So, parallel world dimension," said Antonio, redirecting the conversation. "In a way, you're like our counterparts?"

Summer nodded. "In a way," she agreed.

"Uh, maybe we should finish this conversation at home?" Mia suggested, turning to Jayden. "This exchange probably looks weird to anyone who is watching, and the last thing we need is a Ranger trail that leads back to us."

Jayden considered her suggestion before nodding. She made a valid point. "She's right. It would ask a lot of questions if we're caught with another team of Rangers, we don't need anyone making the connection that we're in anyway related to the Samurai rangers."

"C'mon, Demi!" Ava grinned, excitedly. She grabbed her counterparts arm and pulled her in the direction of the Shiba house.

Demi giggled and linked arms with Ava as they walked ahead of the others. She knew that she was only here for thirty-six hours, and in that time she was supposed to be looking for Professor Cog, but that didn't mean she couldn't have fun and make a few new friends along the way, and besides, she liked Ava.

**~*Samurai meet RPM*~**

Mentor Ji, who had already gotten a call from Jayden, was waiting on the door for his team to return with their visitors. Despite already being warned he was still surprised to see Ava walk through the gates, arm-in-arm with another white Ranger, especially when he was used to seeing her joint at the hip with Emily and Mia.

"Oh," Demi grinned. "Summer, check it out!"

Summer, who was walking behind her sister with Mia, smirked as she spotted the bike in the drive way. "Oh, sweet ride," she nodded.

"And I thought you Samurai just rode horses," Scott called from the back of the group.

Demi rolled her eyes and turned to Ava. "Ignore him," she said. "He often speaks before thinking."

"I heard that!" Scott called.

Demi and Ava giggled as they entered the Shiba house first.

"Who are our new friends?" Ji asked Jayden as he passed.

"That's what we're going to go find out." Jayden answered.

Scott stopped dead as he looked around the Shiba house. Ava and Demi were in the living room, playing with a small ginger feline, while Summer and Dillon watched them, like overprotective parents, leaving Ziggy and Flynn to grimace as a foul smell came from the kitchen.

"What in the world?" Scott asked, looking around. "You guys really do live a Spartan life, don't you? There's no TV, no video games. Uh -"

Demi jumped and up and raced into the hallway, colliding with Scott as he walked the length of the hall, still inspecting the property. "Choose your next words carefully, Ranger Red, because I think this place is awesome."

"I was going to say this place is interesting," Scott defended.

"Huh-uh," Demi nodded, wrapping her arms around him.

Antonio and Emily exchanged looks.

"Demi, come meet Fireheart." Ava called from the dojo.

"Looks like you've been replaced, Em," Antonio teased, nudging the yellow ranger who was watching Ava and Demi closely. She could see a close bond forming already between her best friend and Demi, and to say she didn't like it would have been a lie. Even she knew when to admit that she was feeling jealous.

With Demi gone Scott turned back the rest of the Samurai. "You guys really are all about being old school, aren't you?" he asked.

Summer rolled her eyes. "Scott," she warned.

Scott held up his hands and passed the position of team speaker over to Summer, seeing as his girlfriend was otherwise engaged playing with a 4ft long white lion in the dojo.

"We're here to hunt down a robot," Summer explained, earning everyone's attention. "His name's Professor Cog. He's looking for a way to wipe out the last people left in my dimension, but to answer your earlier question; we can't demorph because we don't know if we'll be able to breathe the air here. In our dimension, we've been forced to live in a domed city just to avoid the toxic atmosphere the robots have created."

Ava turned to Demi, who had hung her head during her sister's explanation. Suddenly Demi squealed with laughter as Ava jumped over the 4ft white lion to hug her.

"Oh, yes," said Flynn, "those two are going to get along just fine."

"As long as the bond doesn't run too deep," said Dillon, "making bonds is easy - at least it is in Demi's case - breaking them..." he cut off and shrugged.

"Ava is the same," said Mentor. "I have never seen someone make a friend as fast as Ava does. But making friends comes naturally to her. Saying goodbye to a friend," he patted Antonio on the shoulder as he said this, "not so much."

Scott sighed. "Huh, it's been a long day," he said, "and we'd appreciate some privacy. Is there somewhere we can go?"

"How long did you say you were here for?" Ava asked Demi.

"Thirty-six hours."

Ava grinned and turned back to her father. "Daddy, Demi can share with me!" she said, happily. "I can conjure up a second bed using my symbol power. Please, Daddy, please!"

Mentor Ji sighed, unable to resist the puppy dog look. "Fine," he caved. "Why don't you show her your room is, and I'll be in to help in a second?"

"OK! C'mon," Ava said, racing Demi from the room. The RPM white Ranger giggled and gave chase.

"Oh, boy," Summer muttered. "It is going to be difficult to watch them have to separate when we go home."

Dillon, Ziggy and Flynn nodded in agreement.

**~*Samurai meet RPM*~**

The next morning, Ava and Demi entered the kitchen for breakfast together. The RPM white Ranger was telling the Samurai white Ranger about her puppy back home.

"He's not exactly a puppy anymore, Dem," said Summer, entering the kitchen. She had shared a room with Summer and Mia the previous evening, while Flynn, Ziggy, Scott and Dillon had a room to themselves.

"Maybe not," said Demi, "but Todd's still my baby."

"I thought Scott was your baby?" Dillon teased.

Demi shot him a look. "Shut it, Ranger black, or you won't have my permission to marry my sister," she said.

"Since when has it been up to you?" Summer asked.

"Would you really marry someone I don't like?" Demi asked.

"Would you marry someone I don't like?" Summer asked.

Demi looked thoughtful. "But you like Scott!" she pointed out.

"Anyone other than Scott," said Summer.

"Then no, I wouldn't," said Demi. "For one reason."

"Oh, and what's that?"

"They'd have to get past you and your death glare if they wanted to ask for my hand."

Summer grinned and hugged her sister. "I knew there was a reason I put up with you," she said, sitting down beside her and Ava.

"Yeah, I just wished you showed it a bit more when we were kids." Demi grumbled.

"I already apologized for that." Summer defended. "And I did admit that I continued to search for you after I made it to Corinth."

"True." Demi nodded. "What would you have done if I had died?"

"You didn't," Summer said, dismissing the through quickly. She didn't want to think of that scenario, she remembered how scared she had been when her parents had suggested the idea a year ago; she remembered how angry she had become with them for not wanting to search for Demi when they had the chance. It was partly the reason why she had wanted to become a Power Ranger too.

Mia smiled as the rest of the RPM Power Rangers entered the kitchen. "Hey, guys," she said, "I hope you're hungry."

"Mia, we've told you," Summer sighed. "We can't demorph."

"But you can't starve." Mia protested.

Summer smiled and shook her head. "Don't worry about us," she said. "We'll be fine."

Mia sighed in defeat and turned back to the pots that were on the cooker.

Ava glanced across at Mike as he took a bite out of his breakfast, and spat it back out. "That's a genius idea, mind you," he said to Summer. "Next time Mia cooks, I'm wearing my helmet."

The Samurai laughed, while the RPM Rangers looked baffled.

"She can't be that bad," Demi whispered.

"Even Cheetah turns her nose up at Mia's cooking," said Ava. "Where's Antonio when you need him?"

"Doing what he does best," said Kevin.

"Huh?" Demi frowned.

Ava smiled. "Fishing."

The Gap Sensor usually always had terrible timing, but whenever it went off during breakfast, especially when Mia was cooking, the Samurai team took it as a God send.

"What is that?" Ziggy cried, almost falling out of his seat as he jumped.

"The Gap Sensor," said Ava. "C'mon! There's a Nighlok attacking the city!"

She led the RPM Rangers into the living room and over to where her father and the others were crouching around the map.

"There's no Nighlok detected," Mentor said, frowning as he double checked the map again. "But there is a disturbance at the water front."

Demi exchanged a look with Scott. "It has to be Professor Cog," she said. Scott nodded and turned to his team. "C'mon! Let's end this and get back to Corinth while there's still a Corinth to get back too."

He started for the door, but stopped when Emily stopped him.

"If what you've said is true," the Earth ranger said, "then Professor Cog's teamed up with Master Xandred, you're gonna need our help to deal with the Nighlok."

"Yeah!" the other Samurai nodded.

"She's got a point, Scott," Flynn agreed.

Summer, Demi and Ziggy nodded too.

"As much as I hate to agree with them," said Dillon, "but even I know that we're gonna need their help to take out the Nighlok."

Scott sighed. "Fine," he caved. "We'll all go."

He stormed out and Ava turned to Demi. "Is he OK?" she asked.

"He'll calm down," Demi smiled. "He's just used to doing this alone."

"Yeah," Summer nodded. "He didn't even want us to come with him, at first. Demi managed to convince him that he may need help, and here we are."

The Samurai exchanged looks, before the sound of an engine sounded from outside the house.

"He took my bike!" Ji gasped.

Demi groaned. "Stubborn and thick-headed," she grumbled. "That's two words that sum up my boyfriend. C'mon, Rangers," she said to her team-mates. It was often, when Scott was indisposed, that she'd take over as team-leader for him.

Ava watched her counterpart with admiration. She was a true ranger.

**~*Samurai meet RPM*~**

"Street Saber!"

Scott swung his saber at the Grinders, cutting them down as they swarmed around him and Antonio, he hadn't the pleasure of getting to know the gold Ranger has much as the other Samurai Rangers, as he pretty much kept to himself, when Antonio was in the house he was working on perfecting his Samurai skills, and when he weren't in the house he was fishing.

"That's right, gear heads." Scott said, slamming the hilt of his sword into the head of one of the Grinders. Ranger Red tracked you down. I'm here to send you to the scrap heap." He raced along the Grinders, dragging his sword across their stomachs and causing sparks to fly.

More Grinders surrounded Scott, aiming their blasters at him.

"Uh-oh," he said, jumping back as the ground beneath his feet exploded. "So you want to play that way?" he asked, firing his own weapon back, oblivious to the appearance of Professor Cog behind him.

"Nitro Blaster!"

Scott looked up as Demi and Summer landed beside him, followed closely by Flynn, Dillon and Ziggy.

Professor Cog stumbled as Demi's attack him and knocked him back a few feet. "Annoying pests," he growled.

"You'll get yourself killed if you don't start waking up, Scott," said Demi.

"Yeah, when are you gonna learn that we're in this together?" Summer asked.

"It's my job to protect you!" Scott argued.

Demi caught his hand as he tried to slip passed. "We're a team!" she yelled. "We protect each other."

Scott sighed and shook his head. Since he had started dating Demi six months ago, he had done nothing more but want to protect her, even if that meant putting himself in danger, as for Summer and the others, they were the only family he had left, biologically related or not, and he was raised to always protect his family. His brother had died protecting him after all.

"Scott," Demi called. "Let us help."

"OK," Scott nodded, lowering his Street Saber. "We'll double team him."

Demi smiled. "How about two teams?" she asked. "Thirteen rangers have got to be better than one, right?"

Scott shrugged. "It's your call," he said. "If you think they can help, then..."

Demi shook her head. "I don't _think_, Scott," she said. "I _know_ they can help. And it's like Emily said, Professor Cog has teamed up with Master Xandred, the Samurai have every right to be here."

"As anyone ever told you that you talk too much in battle?" Ava asked as she and the Samurai finally arrived. The RPM Rangers had used their Ranger bio suits to get to Scott, leaving their counterparts to make their own way down from their mountain home.

Dillon shook his head, and turned back to Cog. "She's got a point. Can we save the chit chat for later and deal with this ugly mug?" he asked.

Scott sighed and nodded.

Professor Cog, who had grown closer by this time, laughed and dived at the RPM Rangers with his sword. He was inches away from Demi and Summer when Emily and Ava blocked his attack and kicked him away.

"Thanks," the two sisters said.

"No problem," Ava and Emily answered, teaming up with their respective coloured counterparts.

As his team pulled out, Jayden rushed in and blocked Cog's sword. "So you're working with the Nighlok?" he asked, wanting answers.

"Yes. We have a deal. It involves you." Cog answered. He shoved Jayden aside, swiping at him with his word. Ducking out of the circle, Jayden waited as his friends swarmed in, attacking all at once, but it wasn't enough to take down Cog. Their swords had minimal effect on him because of his metal exterior. "Hyah! And after you're destroyed, the human population of this world will be squashed like grapes. Ask Ranger Red."

Scott growled and tightened the grip on his sword. "Ah, shut up, motor mouth!" he shouted, running at Cog. He slashed at the Professor's shoulder, but was knocked away as Demi swarmed forward to cover him.

Cog turned and took out Kevin, Flynn, Ziggy and Mike, swatting them down like flies, before rounding on Mia, Dillon, Ava, Demi and Antonio who had attempted to get him from behind, he then spun around and took out Summer and Emily, before blocking an attack from Jayden and Scott; he swiped at both red Rangers and threw them a fair distance away from his friends.

"Electro turbines!" Cog commanded, letting out four cog-shaped energy blasts. They circled the RPM and Samurai rangers - save for the red Rangers - and blasted them high into the sky.

Demi threw her hands out towards the floor and levitated above her friends; she gripped her Nitro Sword and turned it back into a blaster. "Funs over, Cog," she said, firing several blasts at her enemy.

"Ranger White, you never seem to know when you're beat," said Cog, deflecting the lasers blasts back at her, knocking her out of the sky.

Demi groaned and hit the floor inches away from Ava.

"Hey, leave her alone!" Scott growled, raising his sword and running back at Cog to defend his girlfriend. He found the Professor off, pulling him away from the other Rangers. The further away from them he was, the better Scott would feel.

"Demi!" Ava squealed crawling the short distance between her and her new friend. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Demi nodded, struggling back to her feet.

"Demi's not beat." Scott defended. "That's what you tin cans don't get. We're Power Rangers. We never give up."

Professor Cog laughed and opened fire against Scott. "Hypno-bolts," he shouted, hitting the RPM red Ranger several times. Jayden, who had come to help his counterpart, was caught in the blast and the two were thrown backwards towards the sea front.

"Scott!" Demi gasped.

"Jayden!" Ava cried.

"You're a pest, Ranger red," said Professor Cog, stalking towards the two leaders. "I made a deal to get rid of the Samurai Rangers," he explained, firing up a vortex with his sword. "Sending you away is a bonus, and, once I am finished with you, I'm going to pick off your team, one-by-one, starting with Ranger white."

Scott balled his hands into fists. "Never!" he shouted, spying Demi over Cog's shoulder.

"What is that thing?" Jayden asked.

"A vortex!" Scott answered. "That'll send us back to my dimension."

"You can't escape," Cog laughed. "Vector Vortex!"

He blasted the vortex at the two red Rangers, but seconds before it hit them, it was blocked as the other RPM and Samurai Rangers reached their friends. With their Spin swords, Barracuda blade and Nitro Swords raised, the team of ten shielded their leaders.

"Summer, Dillon, Flynn, Ziggy, Demi, don't!" Scott shouted, knowing that the vortex would transport them back home - at least, he hoped it led back to Corinth.

"Ahh! Jayden!" Ava cried, glancing back at her boyfriend.

"It's up to you." Emily said.

"We got this!" Kevin nodded.

"Just kill the Professor!" Mike told him.

Jayden shook his head. If what If what Scott had said about the vortex was true, then there was a chance that they'd be sucked through and trapped on the otherside. "No, guys fall back!" he shouted.

"We... can't..." Mia struggled to say, as the force of the vortex fought against her.

"No, guys!" Jayden shouted, as his team was lifted off of her feet.

As the vortex grew, the energy signature it emitted was enough to, not only suck the RPM and Samurai rangers inside but blow both Scott and Jayden off of the dock and into the ocean.

Professor Cog laughed as he watched the destruction unfold. The vortex took care of ten rangers, and, when his Hypno-bolts started working their magic, both red Rangers would tear each other part, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

Turning away from the scene, Professor Cog laughed darkly, and disappeared through a gap.

As Cog disappeared, Jayden and Scott broke the surface of the ocean. Hauling themselves out of the cold water and back onto dry land, Jayden sighed and looked to where the vortex had just been; it had now since closed, taking his friends and girlfriend with it.

What if they didn't come back?

* * *

**Copyrighted **

**A/N:** Each and every one of you asked for the whole RPM team to come back; the only two I didn't use were Gem and Gemma, and that's because I forgot about them until I had reached the end, and I really couldn't be bothered to go back through and edit them in, so I created a sub-plot of them being still in Corinth protecting the city while the others were in Paranoma. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and I want to thank **Jessfairy88** for her help on Jayden and Ava's date; it didn't go exactly as she wrote it, but I used her idea as a basis and extended it.

And yes, **RPM: Cornith's Black Sheep** is my new re-write project for the summer - and the pairing will be changing to match up with this team up. Sorry to all Ziggy/Demi fans but after much consideration I have realized that I prefer Scott/Demi instead.**  
**

**Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx**

**Chapter updated Saturday, April 13, 2013 at 1:17pm**


	7. Chapter 7: Inter-Dimensional Travel

**Dedications:** Big thank you to the following: **Jmllei, Summer490** and** SkyLion27 **for adding this story and/or me to their alerts. Very much appreciated.

**Chapter Seven: Inter-Dimensional Travel**

I don't own Power Rangers Super Samurai. But I do own any original characters that are of my own creation.

* * *

**Title:** The Legend of the White Samurai

**Summary: **Follows The Little Samurai. In order to finish the battle against the evil Master Xandred, Ava must finally learn the secret that her family has kept from her for generations. Will she fully understand the true meaning behind her Samurai destiny before it is too late?

* * *

Michael raced into the Ranger lab as the alarms blared loudly. He quickly booted up the computer and searched for a shield breech or disturbance but couldn't find one.

"Where's the attack bot?" Gem, one of the boom twins, asked as he hurried inside, his sister, Gemma was behind him.

"There isn't one," said Michael.

"What do you mean?" Gemma asked.

"There is no disturbance." Michael explained, showing them the city map on the big computer near the door. The screen flickered for a second and then Colonel Truman appeared on the screen.

He was in the control tower over Corinth.

"Michael, why are my sensors picking up bio signatures outside of the dome?" he asked.

"How many?" Michael asked.

"Ten and a half."

Michael frowned and exchanged a look with Dr. K. "Ten and a half!" he gasped. "Dillon would be the half because of his Venjix hardware! Colonel, open the gate!"

"There will be an infiltration before I can get the shields back up." Truman said.

"I understand that, Colonel," Michael nodded. "But our team is trapped on the otherside. I don't know how or why, but the fact is they are."

"Ten and a half Rangers?" Dr. K asked. "How completely sure are you that they are our team?"

Michael shook his head. "We'll find out as soon as the gates have been lifted," he said. "Gem, Gemma, I want you down to sector three, gate four for when they open. Colonel, open the gates."

Colonel Truman sighed visibly before issuing the command to corporal Hicks to lower the shield and opened the gates. "You had better be right about this, Jacobs; we are risking human lives for a hunch."

"When am I ever wrong?" Michael asked.

Colonel Truman leveled him with a glare before ending the connection.

Michael sighed and run a hand through his hair.

"How sure are you that they are the Ranger Series Operators?" Dr. K asked.

"99.9%," Michael answered.

"And if they aren't?"

"Then we just rescued ten and a half new survivors."

Dr. K stared at the bodyguard, but remained silent. She had a few things that she would've liked to have said, but saw it fit to not say anything at all.

**~*Inter-Dimensional Travel*~**

"Whoa!"

Ava and Emily cringed as they landed at the bottom of the heap in a dead, deserted and hot baron wasteland. In the distance they could vaguely make out a domed city.

"Can you guys get off?" Emily asked, struggling to rise to her knees. The others, who had come through after her and Ava, weighed more than usual seeing as there was more than just the Samurai there.

Mike, Kevin, Mia and Antonio rolled off of the dog pile and turned back to help their little sisters' to their feet and turned to the RPM Rangers, who had demorphed back to their civilians-selves.

"Whatever you do," Demi warned, her blonde hair flickering in the breeze. "Do _not_ demorph!"

Mike, who had reached for his morpher, paused and frowned. "Why not?" he asked. "It's stuffy in here!" he tapped his helmet.

"For the same reasons we couldn't demorph in your dimension." Summer answered. "You may not be able to breathe our air. It's polluted, remember?"

Mia and Kevin nodded as Mike lowered his arm with a sigh.

"So, which way now?" Antonio asked, looking around.

Summer pointed ahead towards the domed city. "That's Corinth," she said. "If we can get inside the city gates, then we can get the Ranger base and Michael can send us home."

"What about the barrier we used to get to their world in the first place?" Ziggy asked. "It should still be open."

Flynn shrugged. "We'll ask Michael when we get back," he said. "C'mon, we're wasting time standing around here, that and Venjix could pick up on our bio signals here in the waste."

The RPM rangers nodded and led the Samurai towards their home. Unknown to either team, they were being watched from a distance by a brunette female in purple leather.

**~*Inter-Dimensional Travel*~**

Michael jumped from the driver's side of the SUV and hurried towards where Colonel Truman was standing, even those the shields had been lowered the gates had yet to be raised. "What are you waiting for?" he asked. "Open them."

"I need proof." Colonel Truman said.

"Proof?" Michael repeated. "Proof of what?"

"That the bio-signals really are the Rangers."

Michael groaned. "Oh for the love of - Colonel, you will get your proof once the gates are opened. Do you expect me to see through metal or something? I can only go on what I have seen on a computer and, as far as I can tell, the only half a human I know that lives in Corinth's is Dillon."

"And the other ten?"

"Five would be our team."

"And the rest?"

Michael sighed. Neither he nor Dr. K had told the Colonel that the Rangers had left Corinth city; it had been necessary precautions that no one know that they had gone.

"Well?" the Colonel demanded.

"Lift the gates," Michael said. "And I will tell you everything you want to know. But right now you have to trust me."

Colonel Truman hesitated, he had no reason _not_ to trust Michael, and he wanted to know why the Rangers were out in the waste to begin with. "Fine," he nodded. "Hick's raise the gates. Prepare for infiltration."

"Gem, Gemma," Michael called. "Prepare to morph!"

"Right!" the Boom twins grinned. They high-fived one another and prepared their morphers as the gates started to rise.

A sandstorm whipped around the entrance to the gates. Colonel Truman ordered his men to prepare to fire on his command, but held off as several black shapes run towards them.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" Michael shouted as he could make out Demi beyond the haze. "Demi!"

"Michael!" Demi called, pulling ahead of her friends and throwing her arms around the bodyguard.

"Reunion later, Dem," Summer called, spinning around the second she was within the city limits. "Tenaya's hot on our tail."

"Right," Demi nodded, pulling away from her bodyguard. She turned back to the gate as Tenaya, an attack bot and a small army of Grinders swarmed the open gates. Taking a stand in front of her team-mates, Demi pulled her engine cell from around her neck. "Ready?"

"Ready!" the others, including Gem and Gemma, nodded.

"RPM! Get in Gear!"

The Samurai Rangers pulled back as their counterparts rushed towards the attacking foot soldiers and monster. Ava watched as Demi and Dillon rushed at the human-attack bot in purple and exchanged a look with Emily and Mia.

"Should we help?" she asked, curiously.

"No," said Michael. "I don't know who you are, or what you're doing here, but you leave this battle to them. They've been specifically chosen to deal with the attacks bots. Just stand back; we don't want you getting hurt."

Ava gaped at the man that Demi had called Michael. "Uh, excuse me, Michael?" she asked.

The bodyguard nodded. He could only have guessed that Demi had told the Rangers who he was. "Yes?" he asked, waiting for her to continue.

"I don't know if you've noticed," said Ava, "it be a little hard to miss, mind, but we're Power Rangers. We can deal with monsters and foot soldiers. We have enough of them in our dimension."

"And I'm telling you to stand down," said Michael. "By looking at your weaponry, I can honestly tell you that your sword is not going to do much damage to the Grinders. They are made of metal. Your swords will not be able to cut through their armour. What's your name anyway?"

"Avalon."

Michael shook his head. "Where do people come up with these names?" he asked himself.

Ava glowered through her helmet. "Like December is any worse!" she snapped.

"Why do you think she goes by Demi?"

"And why do you think I go by Ava?"

Michael smirked. "You've got nerves of steel, kid," he said, patting Ava's shoulder. "Stubborn and headstrong... exactly like Demi."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Ava grinned. "But as you said, my sword won't work, but we don't need swords to deal with a couple of foot soldiers. C'mon guys," she added to her friends. "Symbol powers. One... Two... Three!"

The five Samurai rangers snapped open their Samuraizers and drew separate symbols in the air. "HA!" they cried, slashing through them and forming one huge Samurai storm above the Grinders and attack bot.

"Demi, move!" Ava yelled as a whirlwind, produced by Mia, whipped up the earth and vines from the ground, the tangled together and locked around Grinders, squeezing them until they sparked and fell back to Earth in pieces. Followed by the whirlwind came an avalanche of snow, the woman in purple cried out as parts of her hardware froze, then she, and the rest of the Grinders, sparked dangerously as they were washed over by a final tidal wave.

The symbols disappeared and the Samurai rangers stumbled as they felt their energies leave them.

Stunned, the RPM Rangers watched as Tenaya fled the city with the attack bot, before returning to their counterparts.

"Colonel Truman, sir," Hicks said. "The shields are fully powered, sir."

"Raise the shields." Colonel Truman ordered.

"Sir, yes, sir," Hicks nodded. "Raise the shields!"

The second the gates were closed and the shields had been raised; the city was back to its holographic perfection. Ava blinked and looked up; a small smile came to her face as the sky reverted to a light blue colour with fluffy white clouds.

"Cute," she said, before slumping forward into Demi's arms.

**~*Inter-Dimensional Travel*~**

Emily sighed as she sat on Demi's bed; it was the same one that Ava had been placed in while she recovered from using too much symbol power. The RPM rangers had been confused when she had just fainted, but after much explaining from Kevin they finally realized that Ava's strongest weapon was her symbol power.

Looking up when there was a light knock on the door, Emily saw Demi edge inside. "She still out?" she asked.

"She shouldn't be much longer," Emily said. "Ava usually pretty much sleeps from about an hour after using symbol power."

"So this has happened before?"

Emily nodded. "It happens all the time," she answered. "There was once this Nighlok, Armadevil, and no matter what attacks we threw at him we couldn't penetrate his shell. It was difficult, at first, but then Kevin came up with the plan to attack him all at once."

"But if your individual powers didn't work..." Demi shrugged.

"His armour had been able to handle any single attack, yes," Emily nodded. "But Kevin realized that with the right attacks in the right order, even the Nighlok's armour wasn't strong enough."

"What was the combination?" Demi asked, intrigued.

Emily smiled. This was the first time she and Demi had had a proper conversation, even though the Earth Samurai was still jealous of the bond Demi shared with Ava, a bond that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and strengthen over the short amount of time they had known one another, she could now see why Ava saw in the RPM White Ranger.

"First was Earth and Forest," Emily answered.

"You and Mike." Demi said.

Emily nodded. "Second was Fire and Air," she said, with a light smile as she felt Ava shift in the bed. Finally Ava was regaining some of her energy, she hadn't moved in the last hour.

"Jayden and Mia." Demi added.

"Third was Snow and Water."

Demi smiled. "Ava and Kevin," she said. "Let me guess, Ava was so nervous that she overdid it with her symbol power?"

Emily looked stunned. "How did you -?" she started.

"It doesn't take a genius like Dr. K to figure out that Ava's a nervous Ranger, Em," Demi smiled. "Plus, last night at the Shiba house, Ava and I stayed up for a few hours exchanging Ranger stories. She told me about the Nighlok that was hurting everyone with lies, and how you were unaffected. She told me about the time, when you first became Rangers, and how you had run off to train alone because you were afraid the others would judge you for taking your sister's place, which I think is a very admirable thing to do if I must say, but, yeah... Ava told me quite a bit about you all... mostly her best friend, the great Yellow Ranger."

Emily smiled faintly. "She said that?" she asked.

Demi sighed. "You don't like me much, do you, Emily?" she asked.

"What? No, of course I do!" Emily said.

"Nice try," Demi smiled. "I can tell when someone's lying. Em, listen, I'm not trying to take your best friend away from you, Ava and I share a lot in common, yes, and we'd probably make great friends if we were from the same dimension, but we're not. In fact, if anyone deserves to be jealous, it's me."

"You?" Emily asked. "What do you have to be jealous off?"

"I get to be jealous of you."

Emily still looked confused. "Why me?" she asked.

"Well, you live with Ava; have done for the last two-years nearly." Demi answered. "I've only known Ava for one day, and I know that we'd make great friends if we lived in the same place. I'm gonna miss Ava when I have to return home, but you..." she shook her head, "you get to stay with her. You get to have fun. Be there for her when she needs a friend... I'd give anything to have that."

"But you have friends that you're close too, right?" Emily asked.

Demi smiled. "My friends consists of the RPM team," she answered. "But none of them are like Ava."

There was a pause where no one spoke. Demi waited for Emily to say something, but the yellow Samurai didn't seem to want to.

"If it makes you feel any better than I'll apologize."

"For what?"

"For stealing your best friend. Demi answered. "I'm sorry, Em, it was never my intention to make you feel pushed aside. I understand why you hate me, and I can't blame you for that, if it was in reverse, and someone made a move on my best friend and shoved me aside then I'd have reacted the same as you."

There was another pause in conversation. Demi's hopeful smile dropped slightly.

With a heavy sigh Demi nodded and stood. "I've got Michael working on reversing the vortex," she said. "I'm going to go check up on the progress of things. Uh, your team-mates are in the garage, Mike and Ziggy are in the kitchen -"

"No surprise there," said Emily. "Mike'd live in the kitchen if he could."

"Mia's with Summer," Demi nodded. "They're talking about their lives before and after being Power Rangers."

Emily smirked. "I'd warn your sister about fairytales," she said. "Mia's obsessed with Cinderella. She'd love to have her life."

Demi smiled. "Kevin is reading," she continued.

"I bet he's really sulking," Emily said.

"Why?"

"Because he's left his Samurai book in our dimension."

Demi frowned but shook her head. "Yeah," she nodded. "And Antonio is playing pool with Flynn. I'll, uh; I'll leave you alone to deal with Ava when she wakes up. Goodnight, Emily," she added, closing the door behind her.

Emily waited as until she heard Demi's footsteps walking away down the hall, she then let out a sigh and looked down at her hands. She hadn't realized until now that they were shaking, and she felt like she wanted to cry. Tears blurred her vision and she pulled her knees into her chest, as they flooded down her cheeks.

Emily wasn't sure how long she sat at the edge of the bed crying, but she jumped when she felt arms wrap around her and someone pull her into a hug. She caught a flash of white and knew that Ava was awake.

Ava sighed and hugged her best friend tightly. "I heard everything," she said. "I'm sorry for pushing you away, Em. I thought you knew that, despite sharing a personality with Demi, you would _always_ be my best friend. I was too busy having fun with someone like me that I completely replaced you. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," Emily answered.

"What for?" Ava frowned.

"For making you feel like you had to choose," Emily answered.

Ava smiled and shook her head. "There is no competition, Emmy," she said. "Demi and I are exactly the same, yes, but _you_ are my best friend! And I wouldn't dream of replacing someone as special to me as you, but isn't it possible that maybe we could extend our friendship to Demi too?"

Emily looked thoughtful, before she smiled. "Well, we did with Mia," she said.

"True," Ava nodded. "So, what do you say? Friends?"

"Nope."

Ava looked sad. "B-but we're -" she stuttered.

"Sisters," Emily finished, drying her eyes and then wrapping her arms around Ava and hugging her tightly. "We're sisters, Av, twins even."

Ava giggled and hugged her sister back. "Even better," she grinned.

**~*Inter-Dimensional Travel*~**

The next morning, Emily and Ava, who had fallen asleep on Demi's bed, were awoken by alarm bells ringing. For two Samurai rangers, who were used to the Gap Sensors sounding at random parts of the day and night, both girls rolled out of bed and hit the floor with painful thuds.

"Ouch." Ava winched, holding her head as she knocked it against the inside of her helmet.

"Double ouch." Emily said, punching Ava in the leg. The white Ranger had only kicked her in the head after she had knocked it against the floor.

"Triple ouch!" Ava whined, rubbing her leg.

Emily giggled and pushed herself back to her feet. "What the hell is that noise?" she asked.

Ava shrugged. "Let's go find out," she said, heading for the door, however, her fingers had only just brushed the handle when the door swung inwards, knocking her backwards into Emily.

"Quadruple ouch!" both girls grumbled as they looked up to see Summer and Demi on the otherside of the door.

"What are you doing on the floor?" Summer asked.

"It is surprisingly comfy down here," Ava joked. "You should try it sometime."

"I prefer my bed," Demi nodded, helping Ava back to her feet.

"What's with the alarm?" Emily asked.

"The Attack bot from yesterday has returned," Summer answered. "Demi and I are gonna take the RPM team to finish him off. Oh, and Michael wants to see you in the Ranger lab, he thinks he's found a way to reverse the vortex, but he needs to be sure that he can transport us all safely back through to your dimension."

"How's he gonna do that?"

Demi smiled. "Don't worry," she said. "It's not gonna hurt."

Ava's eyes widened. "Hurt? Why would it hurt?" she asked.

"See you when we get back," Demi called as she and Summer hurried out of the room and down to the garage. Demi jumped into Flynn's hummer while Summer hopped onto her motorbike.

Ava and Emily followed them.

"Demi," Ava called.

Demi merely giggled, and waved bye-bye as she and the other RPM rangers left the garage.

"DEMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

* * *

**Copyrighted ©**

**A/N:** This is my first attempt at an original chapter in a series like this. I really wanted to show Ava and the Samurai's team in Corinth. Next chapter we'll be back with Scott and Jayden.

**Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx**

**Chapter updated Wednesday, 24 April 2013 at 02:36am**


	8. Chapter 8: The Clash of the Red Rangers

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the extremely late update. But I will be honest when I say that I lost all the will to write this chapter. **'The Clash of the Red Rangers'** was one of my favourite episodes to watch, but I can't wait to put it behind me in writing.

**Dedications: **Big thank you to the following: **Darkest Women, CamaroDude1989, Raven Winter** for adding this story and/or me to their alerts. Appreciate it mates.

**Chapter Eight: Clash of the Red Rangers**

I don't own Power Rangers Super Samurai. But I do own any original characters that are of my own creation.

* * *

**Title:** The Legend of the White Samurai

**Summary:** Follows The Little Samurai. In order to finish the battle against the evil Master Xandred, Ava must finally learn the secret that her family has kept from her for generations. Will she fully understand the true meaning behind her Samurai destiny before it is too late?

* * *

"Do you think Professor Cog sent our teams back to Corinth?" Jayden asked. He and Scott were sitting overlooking Paranoma Harbour.

"It's a safe bet." Scott nodded. "I wouldn't worry. If they are back in Corinth then Michael and Dr. K will help them."

"Michael?" Jayden repeated. "Demi's bodyguard?"

Scott nodded. "He'll do anything for Demi," he confirmed. "Even send her back here. He's incredible with reverse engineering."

"He could reverse the vortex and send them back?"

"Yes. He'll try. Demi won't give up. She'll find a way back." Scott said. "Be it by vortex or anomaly. She'll find a way to return. I'm sure you're Ava will do the same. She doesn't strike me as the type to give up so easily."

Jayden's heart ached at the mention of Ava. It had only just that morning they had been at Rainbow's End, acting like a normal couple. It was like the Ranger world and their destinies to stop Master Xandred didn't exist. They were just like every other couple in the world - free to be them and with each other.

But that non-existent world had been shattered with the arrival of a new problem.

Professor Cog, a machine-based monster had come through a portal from another world and intruded upon something that he had no right to intrude upon. He had ripped the very foundation of Jayden's world away by attacking and sending, not only his team, but his reason to keep fighting, to another dimension.

Nothing made sense to him anymore. He knew that he had to keep fighting; it was his destiny as the red Ranger to keep fighting. Despite the disappearance of his team, Jayden still had to fight. Master Xandred wasn't about to disappear just because the Samurai Rangers were out of the picture. Jayden knew that he'd take full advantage of the situation and probably send everything he had to Earth. The least Jayden could do was be ready for invasion.

But even knowing that he may have to go to battle alone, didn't dampen the hope Jayden felt of ever seeing his team again. If Scott was right, and this Michael was as good as the RPM red Ranger said he was, then there was a chance that he'd see Ava and the others again... and soon.

**~*Clash of the Red Rangers*~**

Ava blinked and inspected the screens in front of her.

Behind her she could hear Michael and Dr. K, a fifteen-year-old girl, discussing possible ways to reverse the vortex to send her and the other Samurai Rangers home. Speaking of the others, they hadn't yet joined her in the Ranger Lab and were somewhere out in the garage; they didn't seem as worried as she was to get back home. It was like they knew that everything was going to work out in the end.

_**But what if they don't?**_ A nasty voice in the back of her mind asked. _**What if things don't work out for the better? What if you can't reverse the vortex? Then you're trapped in Corinth, with no way back to Jayden or your father. Paranoma will be left defenseless against Xandred.**_

Ava shook her head to clear her thoughts. She couldn't afford to think of the worst case scenario. She had to think positive.

_**Jayden is far from helpless.**_ Ava kept reminding herself. He may not have been the true destined red Ranger that everyone believed him to be, but at least he was doing the right thing and filling the position until Lauren came home. With a sigh, Ava shook her head again; she didn't want to think about Lauren or Jayden's mother, Katherine. They had been gone for many years now, and worrying about them wasn't going to make their departure any easier to deal with. They were gone for a reason, and they wouldn't return until that reason was fulfilled.

"Ava." Michael called, shaking the White Samurai Ranger's shoulder. He had been trying to call her for the last ten minutes, but it seemed she had zoned out. Even her eyes were distance. Staring at the computer screens but not taking anything in.

Ava jumped and spun around, a shriek of surprise escaping her lips.

"Easy, easy." Michael said, holding his hands up in defence. "It's OK."

"Sorry." Ava apologized, shaking her head.

Michael smiled. "Are you OK?" he asked, concernedly.

"Yeah." Ava nodded. "I was just thinking. Is everything OK? I mean, did you find a way to reverse the vortex?"

"We're working on it." Michael nodded.

Ava nodded, but she remained distant. Michael could see it in her eyes, she was there physically but mentally she was away. "I'm sure your red Ranger and Scott are OK," he said, trying to reassure the Samurai.

"Jayden." Ava corrected.

"Pardon?"

"My red Ranger." Ava repeated. "His name is Jayden."

"Oh." Michael nodded. "Well, i'm sure he's OK. Probably just as worried about you as you are of him."

Ava smiled, weakly and nodded. She knew that was true. She didn't have to be in Paranoma to know that Jayden was worried about her; she just hoped that yesterday morning wasn't going to be the last time that she'd ever see him again.

**~*Clash of the Red Rangers*~**

Ji looked up as the front doors crashed open and Jayden stormed inside.

"Jayden?" he called, stopping his godson in his tracks. He frowned when he noticed that neither of the other Rangers, especially his daughter, or their guests, was behind the red Samurai. "Where are the others?"

"Sucked through a vortex." Jayden answered, before nodding at Scott. "Probably to where this guy came from."

"Yeah, well, it's their fault." Scott answered, storming past. "They got in the way."

"No, they, along with your team, saved us!" Jayden shouted after him.

"I told you." Scott sighed, agitatedly. "My team was protecting Demi. It had nothing to do with you or your team!"

Jayden shrugged. "Whether they were protecting Demi or not," he argued. "They saved us. The least you could do is be grateful to them."

"They got in the way." Scott repeated. "It's still their fault."

Turning back to Ji, Jayden bit back a growl and stormed off towards his bedroom, leaving his godfather confused on what was happening before him. He couldn't deny that Scott wasn't acting as stubborn and thick-headed has he had been when he left that morning, but why was Jayden acting along the same lines as him?

**~*Clash of the Red Rangers*~**

Night had fallen but that didn't mean that the Nighlok's were resting. Their only mission now was to prepare for the inevitable fall out of the two red Rangers and then they could begin their invasion of Earth taking a win for the Nighlok's.

"General Gut wants a status report on the red Rangers." General Tred said as he approached Professor Cog.

"The toxins in my hypno-bolts will turn them against one another." Professor Cog explained. "Soon they'll be tearing each other apart."

He laughed, mechanically and darkly. His plan to get rid of two Ranger teams had worked, now all he had to was eliminate the red Rangers and both his dimension and this one would be rid of Power Rangers forever making the humans of both worlds easy pickings for Master Xandred and Master Venjix.

**~*Clash of the Red Rangers*~**

Demi stopped and stared at the bubbling water that was coming from the water tank.

"Hey, guys," she called to the others. "Over here!"

Flynn reached her first, followed by Summer, Ziggy, Dillon, Gem and Gemma.

"What is it?" the blue Ranger asked. They had just finished a battle against the latest of Venjix's attack bots and were returning to the garage when Demi had spotted something wrong in the water plants.

"Look," the white Ranger said, pointing at one of the overflowing tanks.

Summer shrugged. "The bypass must be blocked," she suggested. "Hardly a global alert."

"Not that." Demi sighed. "The water. When was the last time you saw _red_ water?"

Summer frowned and looked more closely at what had caught her sister's attention. "Oh, My -" she gasped, seeing that the water was in fact red and not the natural clear colour.

"Do you think -"

"- Venjix has done something?"

Demi shook her head. She had yet to get used to Gem and Gemma's 'twin-speak.' But something about what they had said about Venjix and the water didn't make sense. Why would a computer virus want to affect Corinth's water supply?

"Let's take a sample back to base." Flynn suggested. "Michael may find a reason for it. If Venjix is behind it then the sooner Michael finds an answer, the sooner we can alert Corinth."

"I think we should alert them now." Summer said. "This water will end up in every house in Corinth before we make it back to base."

Demi looked between her friends. "I'll call Michael," she said. "I'll tell him what we've found and to get everything ready. He'll call Colonel Truman by the time we get back and have him shut off Corinth's water supply."

Summer nodded and watched as Demi pulled out her morpher to call ahead.

**~*Clash of the Red Rangers*~**

Jayden sighed in disbelief as he inspected the map at the Shiba House. It was the morning after the others had been sucked through a vortex.

The red Samurai had awoken, half expecting to find that he had dreamed the whole encounter and that his friends were safe in the house, where they belonged. He had lay in bed, with his eyes closed, thinking of Ava before being forced back to reality when he heard Scott was awake in the room down the hall.

The fact that the red RPM ranger was ready to discredit his team for getting in the way of the vortex, along with the Samurai Rangers, was enough to make Jayden's blood boil. It also irritated him that Scott was ready to put aside his team-mates concern for his safety. He understood that they may have cared about Demi, the RPM White Ranger, but that didn't mean they didn't care about their leader. Demi certainly did, or she wouldn't have taken the brunt of the vortex for him.

Jayden shook his head to clear his thoughts before getting out of bed. He dressed and went in search of Ji, hoping that Mentor had some idea on how they could get the others back; it wasn't until Scott joined them did things take a minor turn for the worst. It was obvious that he and Scott were never going to get along, despite their respective White Rangers being practically sisters already.

During their 'argument' (for the lack of a better word) Ji, who had been researching their strange behavior, took a book from the bookshelf, leafed through it until he reached the page that he wanted and reached for his gold Samuraizer. He drew a symbol in front of him and slashed through it. The golden tendrils wrapped around Jayden and Scott.

The shock effect made them dizzy and light-headed; but cleared their mind of all fogginess. It was like waking from a spell.

Jayden was the first to rise, he looked down at Scott, confused on why he was fighting with a fellow Ranger. And he then remembered what Professor Cog had said the day before about 'hypno-bolts.' He sighed, shook his head and held his hand out to Scott.

"Let's finish what Professor Cog started," he had said. "Then we'll work on getting the others back."

"Deal." Scott had agreed.

They were now standing around the common room with their own plan ready to put into action. Professor Cog and the Nighlok weren't going to know what hit them.

**~*Clash of the Red Rangers*~**

Demi exchanged a look with Emily as they watched Michael observe the Sanzu water under a microscope. They had already told him what the water could do to humans, which was why he had alerted the Colonel to the problem; the Colonel, who the Samurai rangers had learned was Scott's father, had then ordered the immediate shut down of the water plant.

"What does Venjix want with your water?" Dr. K asked the white and yellow Samurai rangers.

"It isn't our water." Emily answered. "The Nighlok are trying to flood our world with it. They want to destroy us."

"How can they destroy you with water?" Dr. K questioned.

"It's not ordinary water." Ava said. "Sanzu river water is highly dangerous to humans. It burns upon impact."

Michael pulled up short. He was seconds away from touching the water with his fingers when Ava's warning had penetrated his thoughts. "Why would Sanzu river water be leaking into Corinth?" he asked. "Do you think the Nighlok have done this?"

"I think your Professor Cog had something to do with it." Ava said. "He mentioned working with the Nighlok when we fought him yesterday."

"Sanzu River water can do more than just burn you," said Kevin as he entered the base, followed by the rest of the Samurai and the RPM rangers. "In high dosages it's highly poisonous. I believe that Professor Cog wanted to use it to poison the people here in Corinth. Kill two birds with one stone."

"How is it killing two birds with one stone?" Demi asked, confused.

"Because not only will he be killing Corinth citizens off." Kevin explained. "But he would be killing off you too, and with you guys gone, we -" he motioned to the Samurai, "have no way of getting home. You're our last chance. This means we'd be trapped here while our world is overrun by Nighlok."

Demi nodded as she caught the point Kevin was trying to make.

"So what do you suggest we do?" Dillon asked.

"Send us home." Mia said. "We can stop the Nighlok and the spread of water into your world."

"What about Professor Cog?" Ziggy asked. "If he is behind this. What do we do about him?"

"We'll finish him in our dimension." Ava said. She turned to Demi. "If you guys come back with us. You can finish Cog while we take care of the Nighlok. That way we all walk away victorious and have one less monster to fight when things go back to normal."

Demi looked considerate before nodding. "Sounds like a plan," she agreed. "Michael?"

Michael checked the computers. "Give or take another hour," he said, "than I just might be able to send you back via the vortex."

"What about the portal we went through?" Flynn asked.

Michael shook his head. "It's double function closed hours ago," he explained. "It's only stable enough for one more transportation. I suggest we keep that chance for when you guys return. If you use it now then the portal may collapse and you'll be trapped in the Samurai world for good."

**~*Clash of the Red Rangers*~**

After a rather exciting race down the mountainside - Scott having stolen Ji's motorcycle again and Jayden on horseback - the two red Rangers now stood opposite one another in the quarry. Behind them, waiting for the inevitable clash of the Red Rangers was Professor Cog, Sergeant Tred and an army of Grinders and Nighlok.

"This is my battle!" Scott growled, reaching for the blaster that rested against his hip. "I said move along. This is my fight. That means mine alone."

Jayden paused in his fighting and turned, sword drawn, to face Scott, who already has his blasted drawn and leveled at its target.

"Just go back to your dojo with that sword." Scott said. "It's useless. And so are you."

"Destroy each other!" Professor Cog shouted.

The command acted as a trigger as, seconds later, both Scott and Jayden reacted instinctively. Scott fired his blaster, while Jayden threw himself over a Grinder, using it as a shield and allowing Scott's blast to take it out.

After kicking the Grinder aside, Scott ducked as Scott skimmed his helmet with his sword. The Samurai Ranger had used the Grinder has a diversion to get close enough to his RPM counterpart in hopes of taking him out while he had been least expecting it. Scott easily changed his blaster into a sword, and blocked the Samurai sword, before attempting to shove Jayden aside.

A move that proved pointless.

"I don't want to hurt you." Jayden said, blocking an attack from Scott.

"Now who's the fast one?" Scott asked, blocking all of Jayden's attacks with ease and rebutting with his own in under a second.

The two rushed at one another again, carelessly slicing through Grinders and Moogers that gathered around them. With the foot soldiers out of the way, Jayden sliced across Scott's shoulder, injuring him.

"You're finished!" Jayden said, straightening up and preparing his fatal attack.

Scott surprised him by jumping up, blocking his sword and then kicking him the stomach.

Jayden groaned as he stumbled backwards.

"Time to finish this!" Scott yelled, rushing forward to finish the job. He raised his sword and slashed down at Jayden, who spun his sword behind him to protect his back; with a single twist of the wrist, the red Samurai caught Scott across the chest and, with a deafening crash, send him sprawling across the gravel.

"Mission accomplished." Professor Cog laughed as he watched Scott blasted Jayden's sword out of his hand.

In one last attempt to defeat his opponent, Jayden kicked the sword towards Scott, just as the RPM Red Ranger fired the fatal blow from his blaster. The brightly amber-coloured blast hit Jayden in the chest, as his sword hit Scott.

"Yes! Victory!" Professor Cog declared.

The two rangers hit their knees, breathing heavily, but alive.

"Ha!" Scott laughed, dusting himself off and holding up Jayden's sword. "Not a scratch."

"You could have turned that laser down a notch." Jayden said, reaching into the cover of his suit and ripping Scott's shield from around his neck. "But the shield you gave me worked great."

Scott nodded and pulled a protective symbol out from behind the place Jayden's sword had struck him. "Yeah. So did your symbol power," he agreed. "You know, Mentor's plan worked perfectly. Here." He tossed Jayden his sword and then turned to Professor Cog. "Nice to see you again, Professor Cog. Thanks for teaching the fake-out trick to me."

"What?" Professor Cog growled.

"Yeah. Good try with your mind control bolts." Jayden said. "My mentor noticed we were acting weird. And he figured out a way to reverse your poison. Once our heads were clear, we knew that we had to team up and turn the tables on you. You made the mistake of underestimating us. We're humans. You can't unprogram our motors that easily."

"But thanks for letting us ride right on to your doorstep." Scott nodded.

"That's the last time you'll make a fool out of me." Professor Cog growled. "Sergeant Tred?"

The Nighlok Sergeant growled, prepared himself for battle, and then turned to his army of Moogers and Grinders. "Attack!" he ordered, leading them towards the two red Rangers who were more than ready to take them down.

* * *

**Copyrighted ©**

**Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx**

**Chapter updated Saturday, 25 May 2013 at 03:13am**


	9. Chapter 9: Winning Battle and a Warning

**Author's Note:** It'll be three weeks on Saturday since I last updated this story. I am trying to work really hard to an update schedule, one that works with my Dissertation writing (Yes, I have started work for my third year of University) anyway, here's the final installment of **Clash of the Red Rangers**.

**Dedications:** Big thank you to the following: **Torilovesu, GoldenSpiderMonkey101, CamaroDude1989** and **Mimzy94** for adding this story and/or me to their alerts. Appreciate it mates.

**Chapter Nine:** **The Winning Battle and a Warning.**

I don't own Power Rangers Super Samurai. But I do own any original characters that are of my own creation.

* * *

**Title:** The Legend of the White Samurai

**Summary:** Follows The Little Samurai. In order to finish the battle against the evil Master Xandred, Ava must finally learn the secret her family has kept from her for generations. Will she full understand the true meaning behind her Samurai destiny before it is too late?

* * *

"OK, Rangers. Let's see what other tricks you've got hidden up those red sleeves." Sergeant said as he leveled himself in front of Jayden and Scott. Behind him stood four Grinders and Moogers. There was a glow of purple and three out of four Grinders turned into Motorbikes, allowing the Moogers to have transportation during battle.

Scott grimaced as the Moogers swept by him and Jayden, slashing at them with their swords. "Ah. Now I know why they say don't play in traffic." He said, avoiding another set of Moogers on bikes.

"Symbol power! Red pony!" Jayden said, tracing a symbol in the air. A sleek red convertible appeared beside Scott, causing the RPM leader to grin and climb inside.

"Yes! Now this is why I call horsepower." Scott nodded, starting the engine. "Time to get in gear." He added as Jayden jumped onto the back of him. He drove off, leaving the Mooger, who was unfortunate to not have a motorcycled-Grinder in the dust.

As Scott drove through the Moogers, Jayden swiped at each of them with his sword. He then jumped out of the car, sailed over the heads of the unexpected Moogers and dispatched them with no problem.

"One... Two... Three..." Jayden counted, looking confused. "Hang on, weren't there - Four!" he added, turning around and swiping at the fleeing Mooger and Grinder that had snuck up behind him.

"I have you now!" Sergeant Tred said as he rallied onto the road in front of Jayden. The Samurai ranger braced himself for impact but Scott drove past at the precise moment and pulled him into the car. Angered, Sergeant Tred fired laser beams from his eyes at the two Rangers, causing Scott to swerve to avoid them.

"Here." Scott said, transforming his Nitro Sword into a blaster and handing it to Jayden. "Destroy it."

"OK." Jayden nodded.

"I'll straighten out!" Scott said, turning the car so that it was level and heading directly for Sergeant Tred.

Jayden waited until they were right on top of Tred before firing the blaster. The result of which struck a chord inside Jayden and he was flashed back to the amusement park two days ago. He sighed as he thought of Ava, it was getting late, the battle was almost over and neither he nor Scott had any idea if they'd see their team-mates, or their girlfriends, again.

"I'll finish him!" Scott said, raising his Nitro sword and taking a step towards Tred. He stopped short as Professor Cog appeared behind him, raising his blaster and aiming it at both himself and Jayden.

"Rangers, it's your turn." He said, before firing a round of bullets at the two leaders.

Jayden shoved Scott aside and ducked as the bullets flew overhead and hit Tred. The Nighlok groaned as he exploded upon impact.

"One down." Scott said, noticing the damage.

"Scott, one use only. From Mentor," said Jayden, throwing Scott the Shark disc.

"Thanks." Scott said. "You know, for an old guy, Mentor's got some pretty cool moves."

Jayden nodded in agreement.

Scott grinned and threw the shark disc into the air, and speared it onto his Nitro Sword. "Shark Attack Mode!" he said, as the red vest appeared over his usual uniform.

"Super Mode!" Jayden said, activating the black box. The white vest appeared over his usual uniform.

"Let's get him." Scott said, racing forward.

"Electro Turbines!" Professor Cog commanded.

With a crash of thunder, a ripple of energy swept across Jayden and Scott's path and sliced through the electro turbines with ease.

"What?!" Jayden, Scott and Professor Cog gasped, looking surprised.

"Ha! It worked!"

Scott blinked and looked around for the source of the noise. He recognized that voice. "Demi?" he asked.

Demi dropped her twenty second invisibility boost to reveal her and Ava, fully morphed, on the sidelines of the battle. "Hi." The RPM white Ranger waved.

"Ava?" Jayden asked, unsure of whether he was seeing things or not.

"Reunion later," shouted Summer, as she jumped over the two red Rangers and pulled her sister out of the way of a Grinder attack. "Fight now!"

Following Summer's lead came the rest of the Samurai and RPM Rangers, two additional rangers, Jayden noticed, were also there.

"Gold and Silver?" Jayden murmured.

"Gem and Gemma." Scott answered. "Their twins from my dimension."

Jayden nodded and turned back to Professor Cog as the rest of the Rangers, that he were glad to see were unharmed, took on the rest of the Moogers and Grinders that remained.

"No matter." Cog growled, recovering from the surprise return of the other Rangers. "Once I've defeated you two, you're teams will follow."

"Not on my watch!" Scott said, leading Jayden towards Cog. The Samurai ranger ducked under the Professor's attack, while Scott jumped over it, both landed and straightened by the time Cog had realized what had happened, and delivered the final blow before he could even catch his bearings.

Professor Cog exploded as he landed beside the destroyed remains of Sergeant Tred.

**~*The Winning Battle*~**

With Sergeant Tred, Professor Cog and the last remaining Grinders and Moogers destroyed both Ranger teams and their leaders turned to face the other. It had been nearly 36 hours since they had last seen one another.

Ava grinned as she rushed ahead of her friends and threw her arms around Jayden, he responded with lifting her off of her feet and hugging her tightly, seemingly afraid she'd disappear if he let go.

"Good timing." Scott complimented as Demi run into his arms.

"So I take it you missed us?" Demi asked.

"Like you wouldn't believe." Scott nodded, glancing at Jayden and Ava from the corner of his eye. The Samurai white Ranger had wrapped her arms now around Jayden's waist and was resting her head on his chest, while Jayden had buried his head into the crook between Ava's shoulder and neck. He couldn't help but smile as he realized just how worried Jayden had been for Ava.

Kevin smiled as he and the others joined their friends. "It took us a while to reverse the vortex," he explained. "But Michael managed it."

"Yeah, it didn't help that we had Grinders and Attack Bot's hitting the city every chance possible, either." Flynn added.

"My guess is that Venjix knew there was more than one Ranger team within Corinth." Summer guessed.

"How could he have known?" Scott asked.

Demi shrugged. "Because the Vortex dropped us in the waste," she answered. "Venjix would have picked up on our energy signals by then. Colonel Truman did."

"Ouch. How much trouble did Michael get into?" Scott asked.

"Not a lot." Demi answered. "Your father knows it was for a good cause and, besides, it's not like we left the dome unprotected. Gem and Gemma were there."

The twins perked up and waved as everyone turned in their direction.

"Gem and Gemma act just like me and Antonio do." Ava grinned, looking up at Jayden. "They finish each other's sentences and everything."

Jayden chuckled lightly and rested his helmet against Ava's. He couldn't wait for the battle to be over so he could finally see her without the Ranger gear.

"When this is all over," said Scott to Jayden. "Remind me to thank Mentor."

Jayden nodded and set his sights on the next battle that was waiting for him and the Rangers. On the otherside of the quarry stood an army of over a thousand Moogers, behind them was the camp that General Gut was using his as base of operations.

"Get ready, Rangers." Jayden said as a giant Mooger slammed his foot into the ground.

"Wow." Summer breathed, taking her stand beside Emily. "Since when do foot soldiers grow big?" she asked.

"That's what we said the first time." Ava answered.

"It is still a lot of Moogers." Emily pointed out.

"We can do it." Demi grinned.

Ava nodded. "Time to call in the cavalry." She said, holding up her Samuraizer. "Symbol power! War horses!"

Six brightly coloured symbols appeared and transformed into six war horses.

Ava grinned and climbed onto the back of her jet black horse with a white snowflake on its head; she then turned to Demi and held her hand out. "You coming?" she asked.

"Yeah." Demi scoffed, taking her friends hand pulling herself up behind Ava.

Kicking the hind quarters of their horses, the Samurai rangers raced forward.

"Red Ranger, ready!"

"Blue Ranger, ready!"

"Pink Ranger, ready!"

"Green Ranger, ready!"

"Yellow Ranger, ready!"

"White Ranger, ready!"

"Rangers together! Samurai forever!"

Demi grinned at the roll call, and drew her Nitro sword as the air was filled with thousands of arrows. She swiftly swung her sword around, careful not to hit any of the Samurai on her left or right, and equally careful not to harm Ava in anyway.

"Hydro bow!" Kevin shouted, pulling back on his secondary weapon and blasting Moogers out of his way.

Mia gasped as a Mooger tried to rope her horse. She tied the rope around her sword and raced forward, pulling the Moogers along in her wake. "Nice try," she mocked. "But this isn't my first rodeo."

"Forest spear!" Mike shouted, using his secondary weapon to take out the Moogers that had surrounded Gem and Gemma. The twins nodded their thanks and raced off to find something to blow up.

Ava pulled back on the reigns of her horse, rearing its front legs into the air, as she and Demi observed two blue Spitfangs. "What do we have here?" the white Samurai Ranger frowned.

"What are they?" Demi asked.

"I'm guessing Spitfangs." Ava answered. "They're just walking crocodile heads with a bad attitude."

"Which monster doesn't have a bad attitude?" Demi teased.

Ava smiled. "True. But these things are dangerous in the long run. They don't have any arms or anything, but they do spit fire."

"Ah, hence the name." Demi nodded.

"Yeah."

"So, what's so different about these two?"

Ava shrugged. "The colour, for starts," she answered. "Spitfangs are normally golden in colour."

"Different powers, maybe?" Demi suggested.

"I think we're about to find out." Ava said as the Spitfangs opened their jaws. In a cloud of fiery blue and purple energy, the two white Rangers were almost knocked from their horse.

Demi secured her arms tightly around Ava, who tried to maneuver the horse away from the flames.

"Huh -" Ava gasped as blue beams hit the Spitfangs.

"What?" Demi frowned, looking around.

Kevin and Dillon were heading towards them. Kevin was a lot faster seeing as he was on horseback.

With the squealing of tires, Dillon spun into the Moogers and knocked them away from Demi and Ava.

"Jayden," Kevin called to his leader. "Go get General Gut and leave this to us."

Jayden nodded and raced through the Moogers towards the base of operations. Ava watched him, fearfully from her horse, as Demi dismounted and hurried off to help Dillon fight.

**~*The Winning Battle*~**

"Red Ranger, the invasion can't be stopped." General Gut said, as he and Jayden circled one another. "Why don't you surrender now?"

"You don't know me very well, Nighlok." Jayden responded, raising his sword.

"You're little sword will never pierce my armor." Gut said, blocking Jayden's attack.

"You want a bigger sword?" Jayden asked. "Here!"

With a burst of flames his Samurai sword changed from its primary form into its secondary, leaving Jayden wielding his Fire smasher. Piercing the ground with the smasher, Jayden jumped over and landed on Gut's staff, he jumped into the air and slashed down, unfortunately, Gut was two steps ahead of him and hit him the stomach as he descended.

Jayden raised his sword and raced forward again, only to be kicked backwards. He rolled across the ground, and cried out as sparks shot up from the dirt as Gut struck the ground with his staff. Racing through the smoke, Gut attacked one final time.

Jayden's samurai sword flew into the air and struck the ground between him and the Nighlok general, as he collapsed to his knees.

"Ha! I'm glad you decided to face me one-on-one." Gut said, circling Jayden. "The great leader of the Samurai Rangers shouldn't fall to just anyone. It is only fitting that you shall fall to me, a truly great leader. No last words?" he asked, towering over Jayden. "I'm disappointed."

"Yeah? You're gonna be!"

General Gut spun around in surprise as a jet black horse galloped towards him. It stormed past as the Ranger on top of it jumped off and swung her sword at him. He blocked with his staff and then stabbed it into the Ranger's stomach.

Ava gasped as the staff pierced her suit, causing her to power down. The only upside was that the attack hadn't drawn any blood from her stomach.

"Foolish, Ranger." Gut growled, grabbing her shoulder and throwing her away from him. "You didn't really think that would have worked, did you?"

"Actually, I did." Ava smirked, spying Jayden over the Nighlok General's shoulder.

"What?" General Gut gasped, spinning around. He let loose a roar of anger as he realized he had been tricked.

"The plan wasn't to destroy you." Ava explained, struggling to her knees. "It was to distract you. And you fell for it."

"You're no great leader, General Gut," said Jayden, activating the Shark disk. "You're just another Nighlok with delusions of grandeur. Shark mode!" the red velvet vest appeared over his uniform. "General Gut, I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine. Meet the Shark Sword."

"Raah! I don't care if you have some fancy sword." General Gut roared.

"You really should." Jayden said, initiating the first strike. He slashed around Gut and then threw the sword towards the other Rangers. The head of the sword elongated and swerved between each of the Samurai and RPM Rangers, taking out all the Moogers and Spitfangs in its path.

"Whoa!" the RPM rangers gasped in amazement.

"No! I won't see it end this way!" General Gut raged.

"Then you should close your eyes." Jayden said, wielding the sword around and slashing at Gut numerous times before he exploded.

**~*The Winning Battle*~**

The RPM Rangers sighed as the last of the Nighlok were defeated.

Demi pressed the deactivate button on her morpher and powered down, followed by the rest of her team. Michael had told them before he had sent them back that they'd would have been able to power down once in the Samurai dimension and that they should hold on to it until absolutely necessary.

The RPM team had agreed that'd hold onto it until they were coming home. This meant that they had to be super careful in battle, if their energies hit zero they would have powered down whether they had wanted too or not.

Regrouping with the Samurai rangers, the RPM team praised Jayden on a job well done, before Demi spotted Ava still on the floor.

"Ava!" she gasped, falling to her knees beside her friend. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah." Ava nodded. "Just tired."

"Headache?" Emily asked.

Ava blinked and nodded again. "Yeah. I've been fine up until now." She explained.

"Do you remember what Michael and Dr. K said to you about your headaches?" Flynn asked.

"Yeah," Ava said. "That they could be a warning."

Flynn nodded and patted Ava's shoulder. "How bad is the ache?" he asked.

"Really bad."

"What does that mean?" Ziggy asked, when Michael had explained Ava's headaches to the rest of the Samurai team, the RPM rangers had been present, but he hadn't understood a word of what had been said.

Ava sighed and looked to the RPM Green.

"It mean's danger's coming."

* * *

**Copyrighted ©**

**A/N:** I posted my very first crossover. Please, _please_, check it out. It's a Harry Potter/Teen Wolf crossover (I started there because I found Harry Potter easier to write) but even if you're not into either Harry Potter or Teen Wolf, please still check it out. I'd really appreciate it.

**Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx**

**Chapter updated Thursday, 13 June 2013 at 04:31pm**


	10. Chapter 10: Dreams Responsibilities

**Author's Note:** Two months since I last updated this story. Sorry, my interest in Power Rangers took a skydive, and then I lost all the work on my memory stick, and then my interest in Teen Wolf spiked with the return of season 3... and i'm really sorry for abandoning you. But I am back now.

**Dedications:** N/A

**Chapter Ten: In Dreams Begin Responsibilities.**

I don't own Power Rangers Super Samurai. But I do own any original characters that are of my own creation.

* * *

**Title:** The Legend of the White Samurai

**Summary:** Follows The Little Samurai. In order to finish the battle against the evil Master Xandred, Ava must finally learn the secret her family has kept from her for generations. Will she full understand the true meaning behind her Samurai destiny before it is too late?

* * *

With the battle against Sergeant Tred and Professor Cog over, the Samurai and RPM Rangers left the battlefield for the underground train station. It was the same place that the Demi, Scott and the others had come through the first time they had arrived in the Samurai dimension.

"Well, I guess it's time for us to take the fight against evil back to our own world," said Scott as he and the rest of his team stood in front of the train that would take them back to the portal site and then on through to Corinth city. They had each demorphed, feeling that now was the more appropriate time to use their chance, if they were going to say goodbye to their new friends; they could at least do it face-to-face.

"Thank you for helping us save the city." Jayden said, shaking hands with Scott.

Scott laughed and shook his head. "No. Thank you," he said, looking down at Demi. "If Professor Cog had succeeded, my world would have been in big trouble."

"Yeah. We can fight imminent threats in and around our dome," said Demi. "But from another dimension, and one that we have no clue about? That's tough."

"You guys are pretty good, even if you are tragically old school."

Summer rolled her eyes as Demi hit Scott in the chest.

"Would you give it a rest?" the RPM white Ranger asked. "They're not _old school_, just different."

A bell rung from inside the train, as Gem and Gemma rushed out, looking excited. "C'mon," they said. "I think this giant metal beast is telling us it's time to leave."

Ava giggled as she watched the gold and silver Rangers rush back onto the train, through the windows she watched them clamber up onto the padded seats and looking around excitedly. "I'm going to miss them," she said. "I'm gonna miss all of you. Are you sure you _can't_ stay? I mean, we could use an extra set of Rangers to help us against Xandred."

"Yeah." Emily agreed, linking arms with Ava and looking expectantly at Summer and Demi.

The two sisters' sighed and shook their heads.

"Sorry, girls, but we've got our own world to defend," said Summer. "Master Venjix isn't going to give up on Corinth just because we're not around to fight his monsters, and then there is also Tenaya 7 to worry about, if she finds out we're no longer present on the streets of the domed city then who knows what kinda of trouble she'd unleash."

Demi nodded. "But it's been fun while it lasted," she said, grinning at her new friends, "and who knows? Maybe one day a Nighlok will find its way into our world, and we'll see each other again."

"Hopefully that will never happen." Dillon muttered.

"Yeah, why'd you have to think about inviting more monsters into our world, Dem?" Ziggy asked. "Fighting attack bots and Tenaya 7 is hard enough without Nighlok running around too."

"You're such a sour puss, Ziggy," said Demi turning back to Ava and Emily. "So I guess this really is goodbye then."

Ava pouted and threw her arms around Demi. "I'm really, _really_ going to miss you. You're like Emily and Antonio rolled into one, the ultimate twin sister."

"I wish I could say the same," laughed Demi. "Trust me. You're way more fun than Summer."

"Hey!" Summer exclaimed.

Demi and Ava giggled before hugging each other again.

"Bye." Demi whispered as she pulled away.

"Bye." Ava waved watching as her RPM counterpart boarded the train behind Dillon, Ziggy and Flynn. "Say hi to Michael, Niamh, Todd and Dr. K for us."

Summer smiled and waved to Mia, Demi and Ava as she boarded the train behind her sister, this left Scott on the platform with the Samurai. He had started to board the train, but was stopped by Mike who had come to say a personal goodbye.

"It was fun to finally see you," said the green samurai. "You know, face-to-face."

"Yeah." Scott agreed. "And, hey, good luck with Emily."

"What?" Mike asked, casting a glance back at his friends.

Scott chuckled. "Hey, the whole time I was under this suit and helmet, I seen the way she looks at you, and vice versa." The doors closed on him and he waved, before giving Mike a thumbs-up of good luck.

The Samurai green smiled as the train started to leave the platform.

"So, what did he say?" Kevin asked, patting Mike on the shoulder as he and the rest of the team joined their friend. They watched the train pick up speed and turn the corner, disappearing from view.

Antonio grinned as he saw the smile on Mike's face. "Whatever it was," he said. "It's gotta be good. Look at that smile."

Ava, Mia and Emily giggled as Mike glared at the gold ranger, his face turning warm at the accusation.

"C'mon," said Jayden. "Tell us... what did he say?"

"Nothing." Mike answered, shaking his head. "He just opened my eyes about something."

"I wonder if that 'something' has anything to do with a certain yellow Ranger." Antonio whispered to Ava, but still loud enough for Mike to hear.

Again, Ava laughed while Mike glared at the gold Ranger.

"Dude's, cruising for a bruising." Mike warned, pointing his finger at Antonio.

"Fight the enemy." Ava reminded them. "Not each other."

Jayden chuckled and wrapped his arm around Ava, as Kevin shook his head at his three team-mates.

"Come on. Let's go home." Mia said, suddenly. "I'll cook dinner." She smiled happily and turned away from her friends, all of which groaned and turned to follow her.

**~*In Dreams Begin Responsibilities*~**

The walk home was long, but enjoyable.

Still tired from their trip to another dimension and back again, six out of seven Samurai just wanted to collapse and sleep for a month, but that didn't deter Ava who was quite happy to relive the trip and relay everything that had happened to Jayden.

"They really do live in a dome city," she gushed. "It's kinda sad, but also really cool too. The entire Earth has been reduced to sand, and any humans that didn't make it to Corinth were turned into mindless machines that now serve their master of all evil, the computer virus Venjix."

"Thinking about it now," said Antonio. "It sounds like a science-fiction novel... or comic... if it was a comic book, I would so read it."

Ava rolled her eyes and shoved him away.

"I bet they think the same about us," said Kevin. "Scott acted like he'd never heard of, much less seen a Samurai before, and what did he mean by 'old-school'?"

"To some people, the Samurai era died out in 1876, when they found that they no longer had a role in Japan as their nation moved into the Industrial Age." Ava explained as she thought back to the many Samurai history lessons she had undertaken at the Tengen Gate with Daisuke and his grandson, Hansuke. As usual it was told in a story format so that she would remember it.

"But Scott isn't from our dimension," said Emily.

Ava shrugged. "That's not just the history in our dimension," she answered. "Michael told me it was the same in their dimension too. That would by why Scott sees us as old-school."

"I still find it weird that they have a Mike over there," said Mike.

"It's Michael," said Emily. "He hates the name Mike."

The green Ranger scowled.

"What's wrong with the name 'Mike'?" he asked.

"Nothing is wrong with it." Emily defended. "It's just Michael is a soldier. It's always formal speaking when his on duty, but he also told me that neither Demi nor Summer have ever called him Mike, not even his girlfriend shortens his name."

Antonio scratched his head. "How did he know Summer and Demi?" he asked. "Did he ever mention it?"

"He's Demi's bodyguard," said Ava. "Or at least he was."

"Bodyguard?" Jayden repeated.

Ava shook her head. "I didn't ask what for," she answered. "But, anyway, yeah, they're trapped in a dome, and they fight these weird robots called 'Attack-bots' and they're led by this female, called Tenaya 7, she is a sort of hybrid, kinda like Dillon. A human/machine."

"Yup. Definitely a science-fiction novel." Antonio said, and Ava shoved him again.

Finally they reached the gates of the Shiba house. Ji was in the garden, collecting tomatoes, and keeping Cheetah away from his precious fruit. He looked up as the gates opened and he saw his rangers. He sighed in relief to see them all there, and laughed as Ava attacked him in a hug.

"Daddy!" the white Ranger squealed.

"It's good to have you back, Av," said Ji, hugging her tightly. "How did it go, and where are our friends?"

"Back home," said Ava.

"And it was fine." Jayden said. "Scott told me to thank you for modifying the Shark Disc, it really came in handy."

"Yeah, and Michael wanted me to thank you for looking at his Rangers while they were here." Ava said, letting her father go and scooping up Cheetah, who had trotted out of the house and slunk between her legs.

Ji frowned. "How'd she get out?" he asked.

"Um, through the door?" Emily asked pointing at the front door, which was open. None of the Samurai had thought to put in a cat door for Cheetah, mostly because she was usually always outside with one of them and could therefore use the door whenever they opened it. "You know, when you left it open?"

"I never left the door open," said Ji. "It took me a while to get her back inside after she got out the first time."

Jayden frowned and looked around at his friends. If Ji had closed the front door, like he said he had; then how was it open now?

"Well, obviously someone reopened it," said Mia. "Maybe they're still inside?"

"Let's go check it out." Mike said, rushing past the others. He stopped dead in his tracks and waved the others over, feeling more like a soldier in one of his games. "We should have radios and earpieces so we can communicate with each other."

Kevin rolled his eyes. "We have morphers, you idiot," he said. "But who'd be foolish enough to break into our home? It can't be a Nighlok; they'd never make it past the gate."

"So it's a human then," said Emily.

"What about Luke?" Antonio suggested.

"Luke's got no reason to come here," said Ava. "He also knows not to just show up unexpectedly, he calls first."

"Unless of course he's delivering pizza." Mike added his stomach rumbling at the mention. His friends shushed him. "What? I can't help it if I'm hungry!" he whined.

Jayden shook his head and walked into his home. He stopped in the doorway to the living room and frowned at the sandy-haired kid sitting with his feet on the coffee table.

"Cody?" Ava asked, startling the boy, who jumped to his feet hastily and clutched his bag to his chest.

"Ava!" the kid - Cody - exclaimed, wrapping his arms around her. The last time he had seen the white Ranger, he had been very small.

Mia, Emily, Mike, Kevin and Antonio shrugged as they each exchanged looks. Neither of them had a clue who this kid was, or how he knew Ava and Jayden, but at least they now knew that there wasn't that big of a threat inside the Shiba house.

"Oh, it's been so long!" Ava said hugging her younger cousin. It had been nearly eight-years since she had seen him last. She had been nine; Jayden had been eleven, while Cody had been six.

While Cody and Ava had their little reunion, Jayden turned to his teammates to explain who the kid was. He explained that Cody and Ava were cousins, that Ava's mother, Evelyn, had an older brother who was Cody's father. The team had already met him, but never Cody.

"But what's he doing here?" Mia asked.

Jayden shrugged and turned back to his girlfriend. "I know it's been nearly eight years since you last saw each other," he interrupted. "But why are you here, Cody?"

"Oh, yeah," said Cody, reaching into his bag. "I brought you this," he pulled out a white power disc and held it out to Ava.

"What is it?" the white Ranger asked. "And why are you giving it to me?"

"It's a bullzord disc," said Cody. "I need your help to free it."

"Bullzord?" Kevin repeated. "I've never heard of a -"

"Cody."

Ji had joined them, and he was very surprised to his see his daughter and nephew in the same room together.

"Does your father know you're here?" Ji asked.

"No. I jumped the fence." Cody explained. "I need Ava's help in freeing the Bullzord."

"You can't free the bullzord, Cody," said Ji. "It's too dangerous."

Cody looked downtrodden.

"Uh, what exactly is the bullzord?" Antonio asked. "And how does he -" he nodded at Cody,

Ava threw her twin a soft glare. "His name's Cody," she said.

"Sorry." Antonio apologized. "But how does Cody know about the Zords?"

"Yeah." The others, Ava and Jayden included, nodded.

Ji sighed. "Because Cody's family are guardians," he explained. "of the Bullzord. It is the first zord that ever appeared in our world, and has immense primal power. His family has been guardians for 300 years."

"Wow." Emily breathed.

"Does that mean Ava's a guardian too?" Mike asked.

Ji shook his head. "She would have been," he said, "had Cody not been born. You see, the Brooks family is divided down the middle. The women became Power Rangers, while the men became guardians."

"How did the Bullzord come into existence?" Kevin asked, curiously.

"Through symbol power." Ji answered. "But it went out of control and ravaged the countryside, so the grand shogun sealed it away in a secret location. Only his family knows the secret."

Ava frowned. "I don't know the secret," she said.

"That's because your mother never told you it," said Ji. "She knew you'd have enough to worry about when you started your Samurai training. She decided to leave the Bullzord and its secret to Damien, and after your mother died, he agreed that you'd continue your destiny as the white Samurai ranger, nothing more and nothing less."

"So, if I'm not a guardian," said Ava. "Why does Cody need my help to free the Bullzord from its hiding place?"

"Because until he is eighteen," answered Ji. "He doesn't have enough symbol power to break the seal and control the bullzord's power. Your symbol power is stronger, you'd have more control."

Emily looked thoughtful. "Wait a minute," she gasped. "Ava, your dreams... you said that you were trapped in a cave and there is always this disembodied voice telling you that it's been trapped for centuries and it's now time to be released. Could that be the bullzord?"

Ava looked at her father expectantly. "Could it?" she repeated.

"Can you even talk to the Bullzord?" Mia frowned.

"Yeah, you can," said Cody with a nod. "I've been talking to it since I was three, of course back then all I pretty much did was listening to it, but lately it's also been telling me that it wants to be released. You see, the Bullzord isn't bad, he just wants to be free."

Ava frowned at her father. "So I am part guardian," she said, contradicting what her father had previously told her. "I mean, I have to be, if I can hear it in my sleep, right?"

"Not necessarily," said Ji. "The Bullzord may sense that Cody doesn't have enough symbol power to release it and has locked onto a more powerful source. The only other person, with a connection to it imprisonment, is you, that could be why it's showing up in your dreams."

Ava blinked a confused look on her face.

"No. You're not a guardian, Av," said Ji. "But you would've been next in line had Cody not been born. The Bullzord would have recognized you as its new guardian when you were small and probably formed a link with you for when the time was right, then Cody was born and it formed a link with him too, only difference being his link -" he pointed at Cody, "is stronger than yours."

"So the Bullzord just wants me for my symbol power?" Ava asked, still confused.

Ji nodded. "Yes. Your symbol power should be strong enough to control the Bullzord." He explained.

"Well, if that is true," said Ava. "Why don't Cody and I go free it? We could use its primal power against Xandred, he wouldn't stand a chance."

"Hold on," interrupted Kevin. "You want to unleash a Zord that went on a rampage?"

"He won't do that now." Cody defended. "Ava can control him with this disc." He held up the power disc.

Ava smiled and took the disc from her cousin. She had every faith in her cousin's idea, but she knew it was going to take more than her word to convince her friends and father.

"We need to check this out," said Jayden. "We'll take you home, Cody."

Cody sighed and looked up at Ava, who smiled weakly at him.

"C'mon," she said, wrapping her arm around his shoulders and leading him out of the house ahead of her friends.

The others waited until the door had closed behind them, and then turned back to Ji.

"Has Ava completely lost it?" Kevin asked. "To unleash a zord with that much power? That's just asking for trouble."

"Maybe there is more to this than meets the eye," said Mia. "Cody's father will know more about the Bullzord. He can tell us more about the legend when we get Cody home."

Emily nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and Ava can possibly find out more information about her dreams," she said. "Maybe even an explanation behind them and her headaches."

Ji nodded and walked with the others to the door.

**~*In Dreams Begin Responsibilities*~**

Damien Brooks looked up as he heard the side gate swing open. He had been chopping wood out the back garden when it had occurred, and knew that it would be his niece and the Rangers bringing Cody home; it was where his son would have gone to get help for the Bullzord. Damien had known for a while now that Cody wanted to release the Bull, and after getting a letter from Ji, explaining that Ava was having drams and hearing voices, Damien knew it was only a matter of time.

"Uh, excuse me?" said Jayden as he rounded the side of the house first.

Damien smiled at the red Ranger. "I thought we had passed all the formalities, Jayden?" he asked.

"Sorry." Jayden apologized. He still found it strange to call Ava's uncle by his first name. "We're here -"

"I know why you're here." Damien interrupted, chopping another log in two. "My son came to see you and now you've brought him home. Why are you hiding behind them, Cody?"

Cody pushed his way to the front of the group.

"You left without telling me," said Damien.

"'Cause I was worried about the Bullzord, Dad," said Cody. "It doesn't want to be sealed up like that. I can feel it, and it called Ava. It wants to be free."

"No one can control that Zord, Cody, not even the Rangers. You've endangered yourself and them. You've put everyone around us at risk. Now you've got chores to do."

Cody hung his head and, without a backwards glance, hurried off into the house.

"I'm sorry you had to come all this way," said Damien, turning back to the team. His gaze found his niece and he nodded at her. "Ava, how you been?"

Ava shrugged. "If the constant headaches and nightmares are anything to go by," she said. "I've seen better. Is it true?" she added. "Am I really connected to the Bullzord? Is that what I keep dreaming about?"

"Unfortunately, yes," said Damien. "Your link with the Bullzord has been dormant since Cody's birth, but it's always been there; your father and I just never expected the bullzord to know about you because it's always been the duty of the sons to be guardians."

"Hasn't there ever been a guardian that's also been a Power Ranger?" Ava asked.

Damien shook his head. "No. That is too much responsibility for one person to handle," he explained. "Our family has always had a son and daughter, and our legacies have been split between them. Your mother took over as white Ranger after my mother, and I took over as guardian after my mother's brother. It's the way it has been for generations."

"Then why is the Bullzord calling me?" Ava asked.

"Hasn't your father told you the story?" Damien answered.

"Of the Bullzord or its Guardians?"

"Either."

Ava shrugged. "Not in great detail," she answered.

Damien nodded and put down his axe. "Come inside," he said, inviting them into his home. "I shall tell you the whole story."

The Rangers exchanged looks and then followed Damien inside.

**~*In Dreams Begin Responsibilities*~**

After making tea for his company, Damien showed them all the artifacts he had of their ancestors. It was customary for the guardians to know about their heritage. Naturally Evelyn had known all about the legacy of the Guardians, but she had never once saw it fit enough to indulge her daughter; she had never saw the point in causing worry and panic when she knew that Ava would never be a part of the guardian world, she would never have to worry about protecting the Bullzord because she would never been a Guardian.

How terribly true that assumption had been.

"So this is the grand shogun," said Antonio as he stood in front of a middle-sized statue of an ancient Samurai warrior. Jayden was also with him.

"Cody really cares about the Bullzord, doesn't he?" said Ava. She was standing opposite her uncle; the dining room table separated them from one another. Damien nodded. "He says he's been talking to it since he was three-years-old."

Again, Damien nodded. "He thinks it understands him," he said.

"Does it?" Jayden asked coming to stand beside Ava.

"Maybe, but it can't be trusted." Damien answered, turning away. He unlocked a safe door and pulled out a long roll of parchment. Jayden moved the table centerpiece so that Damien could set the scroll on the table for them all to see. "Three hundred years ago, the Grand Shogun entrusted us with this task, to guard the Bullzord with our very lives. He ordered that it remain sealed. Today, tomorrow, and for all eternity."

The door crashed open and Mia stepped inside. She was breathless, like she had been running.

"Mia," said Kevin. "What's wrong?"

"It's Cody. He's gone."

Damien snapped his attention to the pink Ranger just as the ground underfoot shook violently. "No, it can't be," he murmured, racing outside and looked up towards the mountains around his home. "This is what I was afraid of. He's figured out how to break the seal. The Bullzord is escaping from the mountain."

Suddenly the mountain gave way and a red and black zord, with gold horns, burst from deep within.

"I knew this would happen." Damien said as he and the Rangers watched the Bullzord charged away from the mountainside. "No one can tame it, and now no one can stop it."

"No way we're going to let it rampage," said Jayden, looking over his teammates. "We have to try! Samuraizer..."

"Go, Go Samurai!"

Once morphed the team rushed off into the surrounding forest.

**~*In Dreams Begin Responsibilities*~**

"Whoa!" Ava yelped as she stumbled along the path. It was hard to run and maintain balance with the ground shifting beneath her feet.

"It looks like the Nighlok are after the Bullzord too," said Kevin, looking up to see giant Moogers trying to lasso the animal.

"And Cody's inside." Emily said. "We have to save him!"

Jayden nodded and held up his Foldingzord.

"Lion Foldingzord!"

"Penguin Foldingzord!"

"Dragon Foldingzord!"

"Bear Foldingzord!"

"Ape Foldingzord!"

"Turtle Foldingzord!"

"Mega Mode Power!"

They materialized inside their respective cockpits as Antonio called for his Clawzord.

"Claw battlezord East. Let's dance." The gold Ranger grinned. "Hey, check it out, the Bullzord's running away." He added as the Bullzord ambled off as soon as the two Megazords were united.

_**Bullzord, stop!**_ Ava yelled mindfully, praying that her connection with the Bullzord extended to when she was awake. She knew that it never used too, but maybe now that she was in the presence of the zord it would work. But when she didn't hear anything in reply, Ava sighed and returned her attention to fighting the Moogers.

"Move it, Moogers!" Antonio shouted. "Claw Battlezord south! Get ready to rumble! You Moogers are about to go down." He pushed forward on his controls and used his Megazords pincers to take out the Moogers to his immediate left.

"We've got to get clear of these Moogers," said Jayden, as the Samurai Megazord took out the giant Moogers to the immediate right, "and catch up with that Bullzord."

Unfortunately the Moogers seemed hell bent on keeping the Rangers as far away as possible from the Bullzord, when one fell, another three appeared to take its place.

"Hey, this isn't good," said Jayden, pointing out the obvious.

Ahead of the battle, Ava could see that the giant Moogers had one again corner the Bullzord and Cody was still inside. The Bull reared up onto its hind legs and snorted, before charging the Moogers and knocking them down one-by-one; it then turned in an arch and returned to the Rangers.

"Hey," said Ava. "Look. The Bullzord came back!"

No sooner had she spoken did the Moogers latch on to the Bullzord's horns with their chains.

Ava's eyes widened and she shook her head. "No. Cody!" she yelled, wanting more than anything to unhinge her sword from its control and jump ship into the Bullzord, but she knew that as soon as she did that then the Samurai Megazord would lose control of the Penguin zord.

Thankfully enough the Bullzord wasn't out yet.

It fired its shoulder blasters at the giant Moogers, knocking them down and releasing itself from their hold.

"Look, it's broken free!" said Kevin.

_**Bullzord, stop!**_ Ava yelled internally. _**Why aren't you listening to us?**_

"You've got to take this bullzord by the horns," said Antonio. "Jayden, I'll handle the Moogers."

Jayden nodded and he and the others raced off to block the bullzord from escaping again now that it was free. "Slow down, big guy," he said, as the Samurai Megazord blocked its way out. The Bullzord roared and charged at the Rangers, and would have smashed right into them if they hadn't caught it, as Antonio had said, by the horns.

"Hold on!" Mia said as she struggled to control the Megazord.

"We can't back down!" Kevin nodded also struggling against his controls.

"We need to get control of this thing," said Jayden.

The Bullzord roared its frustration, hammering its hard head into the Megazord and trying to shake them off of its horns, but the Rangers were stubborn and refused to let go.

"Mia," called Ava. "Try to know some sense into it."

Mia nodded and raised her arm of Megazord and slammed it down onto the Bull's snout. It reeled backwards and shook its head.

"Nice hit." Mike complimented.

Pushing forward on all of their controls, the Megazord jumped onto the back of the Bullzord and tried to reach for the chains that still hung from its horns. If they could get hold of them then they would have full control over the bull. Unfortunately, the bull sensed their unwanted presence and reared back onto its hind legs, knocking them clean off of its back.

The Rangers groaned and slumped against their controls as they were tossed around by the charging bull, it hooked them around the waist with its horns and tossed them into the side of the mountain, causing a mini rockslide which half buried the Megazord at the base of the mountain.

The Bull then reared up and took off in the opposite direction.

"No!" Ava yelled after it. "Cody!"

"It's like he's stuck on a runaway train," said Jayden, as Mike wrapped his arm around Ava's shoulder to try and calm her down.

**~*In Dreams Begin Responsibilities*~**

As soon as they returned to Damien's house, Ava run off away from her friends.

She was upset that they hadn't been able to get to Cody before the Bullzord had disappeared, but she was more angry and upset with herself for not jumping ship when she had the chance; she could have gotten Cody out of the Bullzord twice, but had hung back to help her friends because she knew that without the Black Box they wouldn't have been able to control her Penguin zord.

"I'll go find her," said Antonio, volunteering himself to talk to Ava while the others explained to Damien what had happened out in the mountainside.

Jayden nodded and led the others inside the house, while Antonio headed off in the direction Ava had disappeared. He knew it should have been him to go in search of his girlfriend and teammate, but it was also his duty as red Ranger to explain the situation to Damien.

"Damien, we tried to get to Cody," said Jayden, finding the older guardian in the kitchen. "But the Zord escaped."

"We'll find him somehow." Mia promised.

"He should have listened to me." Damien said, shaking his head. "I'm so worried about him now. Where's Ava?" he added, after doing a full search of the Rangers and realizing that his niece wasn't there. Neither was Antonio.

Jayden sighed and looked around at the Rangers present.

"She run off," said Mike. "As soon as we got back. I think she blames her - I _know_ she blames herself for what happened to Cody. On the way back, she kept insisting that she could've helped him, but she hung back for our benefit. She didn't think we could control the Penguin zord without her or the Black Box. She didn't want to feel like she had abandoned us, but now she feels like she abandoned Cody."

Damien sighed and stood. "But she's on the grounds?" he asked.

"We think so," said Mike. "Antonio went to find her."

"Why is it important that she is on the grounds?" Kevin asked, confused.

Damien looked at the blue Ranger. "Because there is one trait of Ava's that reflects in Cody," he said. "They're both slippery. They've both perfected the art of convincing you that they are doing one thing, when in fact they are planning something completely different. You may think that Ava is on the property, when in fact she's gone to find Cody herself."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing Antonio is with her," said Mike.

Jayden shook his head. "No, it's not a good thing," he said.

"And why's that?" Emily asked.

"Because Antonio has never been able to deny Ava anything." Jayden answered.

**~*In Dreams Begin Responsibilities*~**

Antonio groaned and grabbed Ava around the waist, hauling her back away from the fence surrounding the garden. "Would you stop trying to escape?" he asked carrying her back into side garden.

"I'm not trying to escape," said Ava. "I'm trying to get out."

"It's the same thing."

"No it's not." Ava argued. "Escape would mean you have confined me to this garden, trying to get out means I can come and go as I please."

Antonio shook his head. "Ava, you can't leave," he said. "Where would you go?"

"To find the Bullzord and Cody."

"We don't know where the Bullzord went. You'd be lost wandering the mountainside in near darkness - would you stop struggling... OUCH!" Antonio winced, dropping Ava as she kicked him in the shin. "Ava... Ava, don't you - aw, crap!" he pulled out his morpher and quickly called the others. "Jayden, Ava's gone. She jumped the fence."

"_OK. We're on our way._" Jayden replied. The line went dead, and seconds later the whole team rushed around the side of the house, Damien in tow. Mike and Kevin helped Antonio stand while he explained what had happened with Ava.

Damien sighed and shook his head. "Great," he said, holding his head in his hands. He had promised Evelyn, before she died that he would keep Ava out of the guardian world if anything were to happen, but now he had failed on keeping the promise because his niece was running around trying to track down the one zord that he was supposed to keep her away from. "Now what are you going to do?" he asked, looking to Jayden.

Jayden shook his head, before an idea struck. "Wait," he said. "Cody's bond with the Bullzord - even our Zords - is so strong. That's why Ava didn't leave the Megazord, not because she didn't want to leave us, but because she couldn't leave the Penguin zord behind, she never goes anywhere without the Penguin Foldingzord, it's been like that since her mother died."

"So?" Antonio shrugged.

"Let's send the zords out to find both Cody and Ava's location," said Jayden. "The Lion Foldingzord will track down Ava, while the others will find Cody and the Bullzord."

"You really think your Lion can find Ava?" Damien asked.

Jayden nodded. "The Lion and Penguin have never been separated," he said. "Just like me and Ava. They'll find each other, even if they're on opposite sides of the world."

"Well, there's a comforting thought," muttered Antonio.

That night, while the Rangers rested, Damien stood on the porch outside of his front door. There were no stars out tonight, just the giant silver moon. He sighed as he remembered the time when he and his wife, Cody's mother would sit in the garden and count the stars, it had been before had been born.

_**I hope the Zords find you soon, Cody,**_ Damien thought. _**I miss you so much, son.**_

Movement from behind caused Damien to turn. "You should be sleeping," he said, as Jayden joined him outside.

"I can't stop thinking about Ava," said Jayden. "It is not like her to just run off on her own. I mean, I know she has done it in the past, but since the time she got lost, she's never done it again."

"She's trying to do the right thing," said Damien. "You know how she is. Once she's got an idea in her head, there's no changing her mind. And Cody is her family, after her mother's death, she'll do everything she can to protect her family."

Jayden nodded in agreement. "I just don't get her sometimes," he said. "She's worried something terrible of being at the bottom of the Samurai food chain, and then goes and does something like this; if she was really that worried wouldn't she stay here, where it is safe?"

"Fear motivates people differently, Jayden," said Damien. "The fear of losing another family member could be what causes Ava to switch from a little Samurai into a top Samurai. She has every potential to be as good as the rest of you."

"She doesn't want to be like the rest of us," said Jayden, shaking his head. "She wants to be like her... like Evelyn. I've tried to tell her that she's not her mother, but she won't listen to me."

Damien patted Jayden's shoulder. "Telling her will get you nowhere," he said.

"Then what do I do?" Jayden asked. "I'm afraid if she doesn't realize that she's not her mother then I will lose her, and that's the last thing I want to do."

"You're going to lose her anyway," muttered Damien.

Jayden frowned and turned to the man beside him. "What?" he asked, hoping that he had just misheard what Damien had said.

"Huh?" Damien asked, feigning ignorance.

"What did you just say?" Jayden asked.

"Oh, nothing."

"If it's about Ava," said Jayden. "I have a right to know."

"It's not. I'm just thinking out loud." Damien said. "You should try and get some rest, Jayden; you'll need your energy for tomorrow."

Jayden eyed the older man wearily, before returning inside.

Damien watched him go, before sighing and turning back to look at the moon. He shouldn't have said what he had, not with the red Ranger in such close proximity, but Jayden's reaction had only confirmed that Ji hadn't told him or Ava of her true purpose.

**~*In Dreams Begin Responsibilities*~**

The next morning, Jayden was the first to rise, not that he had slept much the previous evening anyway, and was the one to meet the Zords as they returned with news on Ava and Cody's whereabouts.

"Hey, the Zords are back!" he called, arousing the others from their slumber. "They must have found Cody and Ava's location."

The others scooped up their Zords and nodded, but before they could head out, Damien called for them to wait. He joined them at the gate, holding a familiar white power disc in his hand.

"Take this," he said. "It's the original power disc my ancestors used to create the Bullzord 300 years ago. Ava will need it if she ever stands a chance of taming the Bullzord."

Jayden nodded and took the disc from Damien. He still had a sneaky suspicion that Damien was hiding valuable information about Ava, but now was not the time to demand answers. They had a ranger and innocent kid to find, not to mention a Bull to tame.

"Thank you," he said, and then turned to the others. "Let's roll."

They nodded and headed out.

**~*In Dreams Begin Responsibilities*~**

Ava smiled as she spotted the Bullzord ahead of her current location. She had been searching all night for it, and was just about to give up and head back to her uncles, to face the wrath that waited for her, when her Penguin Foldingzord had squeaked, and transformed, flying around her. Ava had taken this has a sign to follow the little creature and was glad that she had.

"Thanks, Pingu," said Ava, kissing the top of the Penguin zord as it hovered at her shoulder. She grabbed it and immobilized it, before running through the trees towards the base of the mountain. The Bullzord snorted as she grew closer, pawing at the ground as it sensed danger getting closer.

"Ha! There it is!"

Ava jumped and looked behind her. The Nighlok she had come across the previous evening was making its way towards her with a small army of Moogers behind him. He hadn't seen her yet, his eyes were trained on the Bullzord. "We've found it!"

"Hey! Thuglies!" shouted a familiar voice and Ava sighed as she saw the rest of the Rangers arrive behind the monsters. She waited, and watched as they all turned to face their enemies. Mia swore that the Moogers weren't getting anywhere near the Bullzord or Cody and then morphed alongside her friends as the Moogers attacked.

With the monsters being kept busy, Ava crept out from her hiding place and run the short distance between where she was standing and the Bullzord. Crusto turned to the sound of snapping twigs and snarled as he saw Ava disappear into the foliage.

"No!" he roared his frustration. "You won't get away with tricking me, Rangers!"

"Huh?" Jayden frowned as he fought back-to-back with Antonio. Why was Crusto running away? What had he seen to make him think that the Rangers had tricked him? "Oh, no," breathed the red Ranger. "Ava! I've got to help her!"

"Just go, Jayden," said Antonio. "We've got it covered here."

With the Bullzord in sight, Ava grabbed her Penguin Foldingzord and stuffed it into her pocket. She then jumped up into the cockpit of the zord and found herself standing in the exact same cave from her dreams.

"Emily was right," Ava murmured, looking around, "It's the same place."

"Ava? Ava!" Cody gasped jumping to his feet and hugging his cousin. "You came to help?"

Ava nodded. "Yeah, Cody, sorry it took me so long," she apologized.

"You're here now," said Cody. "I broke the seal, but I can't control him. You have to try."

"What's the symbol?" Ava asked.

"Like this." Cody drew the symbol in front of him and pushed it towards the glowing pedestal, but it smashed before it could reach it. "See...?"

Ava nodded and drew her Samuraizer. "OK. Let's try it my way," she drew the same symbol Cody had drawn, and pushed it towards the pedestal, but just like Cody's it smashed before reaching the power disc. "What? What happened?"

"Nice try, hero," said a raspy voice from behind.

Ava and Cody turned to see Crusto standing in the opening to the cockpit.

"But yours and the guardian's time is up," he added. "Get out of the way. I'm taking the Bullzord, and I'll use it to destroy your world."

"Not a chance!" Ava said. "Spin sword! Cody, get down!" she yelled at her cousin as she rushed at the Nighlok. She slashed down with her sword, hitting him in the shoulder. Crusto growled at her and swung around to hit her, but Ava blocked with her sword and held up her Samuraizer. "Go, Go Samurai!" she said, morphing quickly. "How dare you threaten a kid?"

"Oh no, he's running wild again." Cody panicked. "Ava, what do I do?"

"Try the symbol again." Ava shouted, still fighting off Crusto.

"But -?"

"I need your help on this one, Cody. I can't hold Crusto off and tame the Bullzord. You're gonna have to do it."

"But, I -"

No buts," said Ava, pushing Crusto away from her. She ducked under his arm and led him away from Cody and the pedestal.

The Nighlok aimed a hit for her feet, but missed as she jumped over him, and rushed towards the exit, if she could get outside then Crusto would follow her because of her interference, he'd want to put an end to her to make sure she didn't interfere again, unfortunately she'd forgotten about the force field - or maybe she had just assumed that was in her dreams and not reality - but as she stepped up to the cave doorway she was blasted backwards by an unseen force.

"Ava!" Jayden yelled. He had arrived in the cockpit just in time to see his girlfriend being blown backwards.

Crusto growled and turned to the red Ranger.

"Colorful nuisances!" he yelled, charging at Jayden.

Jayden attacked with his sword and rushed to where Ava had landed, she was trying to stand, but kept losing her footing as the bullzord continued to rampage. "Are you OK?" he asked, grabbing her arm and supporting her until she was steady on her own.

"Yeah. How'd you find me?" Ava asked.

"The Lion zord told me."

Ava rolled her eyes. "I should have guessed you'd send him to find us," she said. "I guess it's a good thing you did."

"Yeah. You can't run from me, Av," said Jayden.

"I can try." Ava shrugged.

"Ava, he's heading for the cliffs." Cody shouted from the pedestal. He was still having trouble with the symbol.

Jayden shook his head and turned to Cody. "Your father gave this to me," he said, holding up another white power disc, it was identical to the one that was on the pedestal now. "He wanted me to give it to Ava, but I think you deserve it, Cody."

"But, I -" Cody started.

"Hey, you're only as strong as you believe," said Jayden. "Your father believes in you, Cody, now you need to believe in yourself."

Ava smiled and patted her cousin's shoulder. "I believe in you too," she encouraged. "Use your symbol power and tame this beast!"

Cody looked between Ava and Jayden, and nodded. "OK," he said, turning his back on them as they run off to fight Crusto again. He took the fake disc off of them pedestal and replaced it with the real one; he then stepped back and drew the symbol. It failed. "It's not working... It's not working." He called out.

"Try again." Ava called back, blocking an attack and then stumbling as the bull charged on.

"Don't give up, Cody," said Jayden. "You can do it."

Cody sighed and tried again. His second attempt also failed. "It's still not working!" he shouted.

"Concentrate." Jayden told him, catching Ava's hand. He pulled her towards him, and away from Crusto whose attack hit the cave wall rather than the white Ranger. "Super Samurai Mode!"

The white vest appeared over Jayden's regular uniform, and a burst of flame engulfed his sword as he slashed at Crusto's stomach.

Focusing on his connection to the Bullzord, Cody drew the taming symbol one final time. He breathed in sharply and then pushed it towards the pedestal, breaking through whatever barrier protected it and illuminating the power disc brightly.

The Bullzord roared and then stopped running, it peered down into the depths of the mountainside before back tracking away from the edge.

"Yes!" Ava said running to Cody's side as Jayden obliterated Crusto with one final attack. "Way to go, Cody, you did it! You tamed him!"

"_We_ tamed him." Cody grinned, turning to Ava. He handed her the bull disc and then looked towards Jayden.

Jayden nodded and powered down from Super Samurai mode. "Here," he said, offering the Black Box to Ava. "Finish what you started..."

"I didn't start this," said Ava.

"Then take a responsibility for your dreams," said Jayden. "The Bullzord came to you, which must mean you're the one who can control him. So here, take it."

Ava considered him for a moment and then took the Black Box. She attached it to her spin sword and opened it, inserting the Bull disc inside. She held the sword up so it was level with her shoulder, and spun the disc at its hilt.

A holographic image of the Grand Shogun appeared before the three of them.

"Whoa..." Cody breathed in amazement.

"The Grand Shogun," said Jayden.

"You have summoned the power of your ancestors," the Grand Shogun said. "Now and forever, our power is your power." He disappeared, as soon as he did, several things happened at once. Cody collapsed from the amount of symbol power he had used, while Crusto's second form appeared outside in the Mountainside.

Ava quickly knelt beside her cousin and held him against her. "I think it's time for you to go home," she said.

"No, I wanna help." Cody protested.

"And you have," said Ava. "But you need to rest; we'll come see you before we go home."

"You promise?"

Ava nodded. "I promise."

Cody sighed and nodded. "OK. I'll go home." He agreed.

Ava smiled and looked up at Jayden. "Do it," she said, hugging her cousin once more, and then helping him stand.

"Thank you for believing in me," said Cody, "and the Bullzord."

Jayden nodded once, and then drew the symbol that would take Cody home. "Symbol Power, home." The symbol entered the Cody's chest and he disappeared from their sight. "Now to unlock the Bullzord's Megazord mode." He added to Ava.

Ava nodded and turned back to the cave wall as it crumbled down around them to reveal a cockpit similar to the one inside their respective zords, the only difference this one held was that the head on the console was that of a Bull and not a Penguin or a Lion.

"Mega mode Power!" Ava said, as her uniform changed again. "Bullzord transformation!"

Jayden followed Ava into the Bullzord's cockpit and stood behind her as she took her place at the controls, she folded her Mega blade and linked it up with the console as the Bullzord vibrated around them as it transformed into its own Megazord.

"This is so cool!" Ava grinned. "Time to put this Nighlok down for good. Bull Megazord, armed for battle!"

"Well, well," said Crusto.

"You failed, Nighlok," said Jayden. "No way are you taking control of this Megazord."

"Be that as it may, not even a Bull can stand up to my blazing firestorm." Crusto said, spurting fire at the newly transformed Megazord.

"I'm tired of fiery personality!" Ava snapped, pushing forward on her mega blade. She stalked towards the Nighlok and punched him several times.

"Urgh! You're nothing but a big bully!" Crusto yelled.

"Says the Nighlok that threatened a fourteen-year-old kid!" Ava shouted. "Shoulder blasters!"

Crusto screamed in agony as he was thrown through the air, but he recovered quickly and was once again on his feet to face the Rangers.

"What? He's back on his feet already?" Jayden gasped in surprise.

"Not for long," said Ava, holding up the Bull disc. "Shogun Mode!"

Ava pushed the disc into the clip on her belt and her uniform transformed into its fourth mode, this time adopting similar armour of the Grand Shogun, only in White instead of Red. "Power of the Ancestors! Bull Disc, power up!"

A giant replica of the bull disc flew up from the heel of the Megazord and landed between the horns, slotting into place and adding more firepower to the blasters; leveling the laser blaster at Crusto, Ava grinned and pushed forward on her controls.

"Oh, no." Crusto groaned. "This is the primal power."

"Revolving laser blaster!" Ava yelled. "Final strike!"

The blaster in the Megazords hand shot several blasts at the Nighlok has it rotated, followed by a bright blue and white beam of energy from the power disc between the horns. Crusto screamed as he was hammered into several times, before finally exploding.

"Yes!" Ava celebrated.

"Samurai Rangers, victory is ours." Jayden said, hugging Ava from behind.

The White Ranger grinned and leaned into his embrace. "Does this mean you're not mad at me?" she asked, powering down?

"Oh, no," said Jayden, shaking his head and powering down. "I'm still very mad at you. But I'll let it drop so you can enjoy your defeat."

Ava, who had lost her happy spark upon hearing Jayden, was still mad at her, smiled brightly when he announced that he'd overlook her actions because she had destroyed Crusto. "Thanks, Jayden," she said, wrapping her arms around him and leaning into him.

"I'm proud of you," said Jayden kissing the side of her head. "You defeated him all by yourself, and you did it as you, not your mother."

"Yeah. I guess I did."

"So enough comparing yourself to her, OK?" it was more of a statement than it was a question.

Ava smiled and nodded. "I promise," she said, grinning as he leaned in and kissed her.

**~*In Dreams Begin Responsibilities*~**

Cody grinned as his father fixed his sneakers for him.

"Here we are," said Damien. "Good as new."

"Thank you, Dad," said Cody, happily. He had other sneakers, but these ones were his all-time favourite. It had been nearly an hour since Jayden had sent him home, a good full hour since his father had scolded him for running off and unleashing the Bullzord, and then collapsing into a fit of tears and hugs at the relief that he was OK.

Cody still felt slightly guilty for scaring his father so much.

"I'm proud of you, son," said Damien. "Our ancestors would be proud of you too."

"If that's your way of saying the guardianship of the Bullzord is now my responsibility," said Ava as she rounded the house with the rest of the Rangers, she was playfully arguing with Jayden about something that involved the Bullzord, "you can forget it. It's as your zord now, as it is mine."

Cody jumped to his feet and run towards his cousin, wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her.

"Whoa," said Ava as she stumbled slightly. "Hey, if I'm gonna get hugs every time we see each other, I'm gonna come round more often."

The team chuckled and shook their head as Cody stepped back and Damien put his hand on Ava's shoulder. "What you did was really stupid," he said, and Ava nodded. "But i'm also proud very proud of you. You are definitely a Brooks."

Ava grinned. "Oh, i'm definitely a Brooks, alright," she said. "Daddy often tells me that i'm my mother's child."

"And he's right," nodded Damien. "I see so much of Evelyn in you, but you're not her," he added, glancing at Jayden. "Ava, your mother was a great Ranger, but you have the chance to suppress that, and be better, but in order to do that you have to stop limiting yourself to your mother's successions. OK?"

"So what you're trying to say is that I should be more like me," said Ava, "and less like Mom?"

Damien nodded. "Your mother wouldn't want you to be like her," he said. "Trust me; you don't want to be like your mother. Just be yourself, and then, when the time comes, you'll realize that is all you need to be."

Ava frowned. "When what time comes?" she asked.

"If you need to ask," said Damien, shaking his head slightly. "Then you're not ready to know, but one day soon... OK?"

"You're weird." Ava pointed out.

Damien shrugged. "I guess it runs in the family," he said, knowing all too well to not take what Ava said to heart. She thought everyone was weird, but that had always been her personal way of telling someone she loved them. Her mother used to hold the same trait.

"If weirdness runs in the family," said Cody. "What does that mean for me?"

"You're screwed," said Antonio, patting his shoulder.

"Great!" Cody complained.

The Rangers laughed and Ava grabbed Cody in another hug. "Hey, being weird is great," she defended. "We have much more fun than non-weird people."

"We wanted to say goodbye before we took off," said Mike, as Cody hugged Ava back again.

"Thanks to you, we have a new weapon to fight the Nighlok with," said Kevin, nodding at Cody.

"And now you can go back to your normal life," said Mia, smiling.

Ava giggled. "We just established that he'll never have a normal life," she said. "He's doomed by the weirdness of the Brooks. Doomed, doomed, doomed."

"Where did you get sugar from in the mountainside?" Damien asked, knowing all too well what his niece was like after huge consumptions of sugar.

"I haven't had any sugar," said Ava. "I'm just tired."

"The Shiba house must be a ton of fun," said Damien, shaking his head. "I genuinely feel sorry for the rest of you. A restless Ava is just as much fun as a hyperactive Ava."

Ava frowned at her uncle. "Are you picking on me?" she asked.

"Yes, Ava, I am," said Damien nodded.

"OK." Ava shrugged, looking down at Cody as he excitedly told Mia that he wasn't finished helping her and the Rangers yet.

"I've got some epic new ideas," said Cody, his words rushing out faster than he expected in all of his excitement. "First off -"

"Whoa, easy, Cody," said Mia. "You've had enough action for a while. You need to rest up."

"Mia's right, but maybe we'll call on you again soon," said Jayden. "We can always use help from a friend."

Cody grinned and high-fived Jayden.

"Great." Ava teased. "Now we'll never get rid of him!"

"Why would you want too?" Cody asked, hugging her again.

Ava smiled and hugged him back, one last time.

* * *

**Copyrighted ©**

**A/N:** Now that Mystic Force: Against All Odds is finished, I will do my very hardest to finish this story before starting anything new. However, I am going away from today, only overnight, but that means there won't be any updates until at least Monday evening (my time), see you then.

**Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx**

**Chapter updated Thursday, 13 June 2013 at 10:20am**


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